Exodus Into Fire
by keita52
Summary: When the Battlestar Galactica, guided by Starbuck, makes the jump towards Earth, they find a planet encircled by giant black ships and a woman calling herself Commander Shepard telling them to leave before the Reapers attack them. With Earth not the safe haven they'd hoped for, the Colonial Fleet and their Cylon allies struggle to make a place for themselves in this new universe.
1. Chapter 1

_Original prompt from the Mass Effect Kink Meme:_  
_So, ever notice how throughout the course of BSG, the colonial fleet never once encounters life other than the cylons? They jump through space thousands of times and never run into anything we've accounted for in the milky way. No familiar planets, stars, nebulae, systems... Makes me think that maybe, just maybe, the events in Battlestar take place in another galaxy-and their search for Earth might bring them closer and closer to the Milky Way._

_Obviously the ending of Battlestar would have to be retconned, but here's the prompt: The colonial fleet and the Galactica jump into one of the star clusters on the fringes of Citadel space, where they're radioed by the Normandy and some of the Fifth Fleet. Thinking this is some kind of trick, Adama sends out the Vipers, and Shepard calls him and his crew on board in order to avoid a conflict._

_Cue Galactica crewmen talking to those on the Normandy and realizing a) there's a much larger world out there than they initially thought, b) the Reaper threat is much more sinister than anything the Cylons cooked up, and c) what the hell is the Council going to think about 50,000 human refugees originating from outside the Galaxy?_

_Bonus points for Galactica people bonding with the Normandy crew over similarities in their lives. Jack and Starbuck having a drink while discussing the pains of teaching "nuggets", Legion and Athena bonding over the Geth invasion vs the Cylon invasion, Garrus and Tyrol complaining about pounding dents out of the Mako/Vipers, EDI feeling insecure about Six being a "superior AI", Mordin making Baltar extremely uncomfortable, take your pick!_

_Strong preference for Paragon Femshep. With or without LI is up to you, but I'm very partial to Femshep/Garrus._  
_  
_

_A/N:  
__* The Galactica and everyone else in the Colonial Fleet are entering right at the end of 4x10, "Revelations".  
__* Because this is my fic and I can, I'm declaring that Ashley looks more like ME1/ME2 Ash than the catsuit she wears in 3. Her armor in 3 is fine, but I hate that damned catsuit. Ash is better than that. I'll try to make sure that gets described adequately, but this is an advance warning.  
__* Chapters have undergone some editing between Kink Meme and here._

* * *

"Three … two … one … jump."

Admiral William Adama had heard those exact words from Dee countless times since the Cylon attack on the colonies, and he sincerely hoped that this would be the last time. If the jump didn't work, the Colonial Fleet would once again be at odds with the rebel basestar - delaying disaster rather than averting it.

Though he was doing his best to project a calm and in control exterior, the people around him - those who knew him well, at least - could easily see the signs of tension. Laura Roslin, first an adversary and then an ally and a friend (and so much more); his son Lee, a different kind of leader than his old man. Even as he tried to focus on the possibility of finally reaching Earth, his mind kept wandering, jumping over to the revelation that Saul Tigh was a Cylon. Tigh, his closest friend and trusted subordinate; Tigh, who had been by his side through the ups and downs of this whole insane journey.

He felt the familiar sensation of FTL embracing him and then letting him go as the Galactica traveled from once place to another.

"Jump complete."

His gaze shifted to Felix Gaeta, missing a leg but determined to do his job nonetheless. "DRADIS is - wait, multiple contacts!" Gaeta said. A heartbeat later - "Unknown signatures. They don't match anything we've seen before."

"How is that possible?" Adama asked. "Never mind. Launch the alert Vipers!" Such as they were. Everything was depleted these days, running on reserves - including himself, including the crew. For a moment, he wished Lee was in uniform. But his son had chosen a different path.

"Tell me when we have a visual," he ordered, and heard the message being passed to all the Viper pilots.

_"Hot Dog here. I don't have any frakking clue what's going on, Galactica. There's all sorts of ships here - but they're not ours, and they're not Cylons. Scratch that, some of them look like ours, but some … never seen anything like it before."_

"Hot Dog, are any of them hostile?" Dee asked.

_"None of them are shooting right now. The big black ones seem to be focused on the planet."_ A long pause. _"The others seem to be bugging out, Galactica. I think we jumped into another shit storm."_

"Incoming transmission!" Gaeta said abruptly.

"Can you identify which ship it's coming from?" Adama asked.

"Negative, sir."

Adama didn't like that, but he needed some answers. "Patch it through."

"Sir." Gaeta tapped a few keys, and then a woman's voice came over the speakers.

_"Unknown vessels, this is Commander Shepard, SSV Normandy. Earth is under attack, I repeat, Earth is under attack. Advise you to head to the Charon relay and get to the Citadel ASAP."_

A murmur went around the CIC at the mention of 'Earth'. A few people made loud exclamations of joy, but they soon tapered off. No one, it seemed, knew what to make of the idea that Earth was under attack.

"Sounds human," Laura said, raising her voice to be heard above the hubbub.

"So do the Cylons," Adama replied. "Dee, see if you can get some clarification on any of that."

"Yes, sir," Dee replied. "SSV Normandy, this is Battlestar Galactica. Who is attacking Earth, and where is the Citadel? Can you send FTL coordinates?"

_"FTL?"_ the woman replied. _"You forgot where the relay is? How do you forget a relay?"_

Dee looked up, and Adama nodded, giving her permission to continue. "We've … never heard of a relay. We need FTL coordinates."

"Not that it matters," Lee said, leaning forward to look at his father. "We need time to do the calculations. We're sitting ducks, and it sounds like there's something going on that we don't want to be here for."

There was a long pause before the person on the other end of the comm replied. _"Galactica, you're not making any damned sense, but if you stay here, you'll get killed. I've got orders to head to Mars. Follow along under engine thrusters. I'll explain more when we get there. Shepard out."_

"Mars?" Lee asked, a frown on his face.

"Must be another planet in this system," Adama said. "Dee. Tell the fleet to follow. We need answers, and I don't like the looks of those big ships."

"Agreed, sir." Dee started relaying orders to the rest of the fleet, including the Cylon basestar.

* * *

Commander Artemis Shepard, lately reinstated to the Systems Alliance Navy, killed the comm and shook her head. "As if I needed any more complications," she said to Joker.

"Hey, at least you're back here," Joker said. "I was going crazy cooped up here with all those Alliance techs poking over every inch of my ship."

Shepard grinned. "Missed you too, Joker."

"What do you suppose that was about, anyway?" Joker asked. "Some lunatic FTL-only group deciding to return to the mother world?"

"If so, they picked the wrong time," Shepard said with a rueful chuckle. "Can you imagine that? Coming back to Earth only to find it under attack."

"The fleet is not a uniform one," EDI said, her holographic image coming to life. Shepard turned to look at the blue ball that was EDI's projection of herself. "There were many different types of vessels. Most are damaged and in need of repair. There are many civilian vessels. The ship that identified itself as the Galactica was one of two large military vessels. The Galactica deployed several fighters as it finished the jump. The other military vessel is packing considerable firepower." EDI paused. "There was something odd about the other one, Shepard."

"Odd how, EDI?"

"I am not sure. None of the vessels were familiar, but the Galactica and the civilians are close enough to contemporary vessels that I can make safe extrapolations. The other one … is more like a Reaper."

"But it was traveling with a bunch of organics," Shepard said, furrowing her brow.

"It is a mystery I cannot explain."

"I really don't have time for this crap," Shepard groaned. "Have Ash and Vega meet me in the armory." She paused. "Which is … where these days?"

"Deck Five, Shepard."

"Thanks, EDI." As Shepard walked away, she reflected on just how far she and Joker had come from the early days of doubting EDI. Then, she had seen EDI as an annoying and unnecessary watcher from Cerberus. Now, she had no doubt that the AI would have her back, no matter what came at them.

* * *

Shepard was struck by a profound sense of nostalgia as she walked out of the elevator onto Deck Five. It was a hell of a lot more like the first Normandy, which made sense given the Alliance retrofits. There was a guy she didn't recognize behind one of the terminals, and she saw Vega and Ash checking out the armory. She walked over, and Vega saluted. Ash just nodded at her.

"Because today wasn't exciting enough, we've got some unknown vessels tailing us to Mars," she said. "In the brief conversation I had with someone on one of the vessels, they managed to confuse the hell out of me by saying they had never heard of a relay."

Vega snorted. "That's some kind of joke, right?" he said. "How do you not know what a relay is?"

"That's the question of the day, Lieutenant," Shepard said wryly. "I have an idea for dealing with them that I wanted to run by the two of you first."

Ash lifted an eyebrow. "What would that be, Commander?"

_I wish she'd call me 'Skipper' again_. "I've seen some really weird stuff since that first run with Nihlus," Shepard said. "Despite how crazy it seems, I'm inclined to take these people at face value. Somehow, they're complete newcomers to this corner of the galaxy. EDI gave me a quick analysis of the vessels, and at least one of them is packing enough firepower that even Harbinger might think twice about taking a shot at it. I've built my career on working with whoever needs to be worked with." She shot a quick glance at Ash, who had been so anti-alien at first. Ash nodded, which reassured Shepard. "I'll take whatever allies I can get. So we need to bring them up to speed as quickly as possible. Again, I have an idea -" she shifted her glance to Vega - "but you may not like it."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: This was supposed to go up before Dragon Age: Inquisition sucked me in, but such is life.

* * *

The word for the current situation, Admiral Adama thought wryly, was _chaos_.

Laura and Lee had been working together to field calls, requests, demands from the civilian captains and everyone else who thought they needed to get a word in edgewise. The Viper pilots who were still out on CAP duty were under strict orders to report absolutely _everything_ that they saw, whether they thought it was relevant or not.

The picture that was starting to come into focus was a terrifying one - all the more terrifying because they had nowhere else to go. It was why they had come here in the first place, why Adama had made the decision to roll the hard six. Galactica had taken a few too many beatings, they had lost too many people along the way. They were running out of time and options. Of the millions that had once lived on the Twelve Colonies, they had only 39,665 remaining. It was Adama's job to lead them to a new home. After the jump here, seeing the black ships, seeing all of the other ships fleeing the planet, he was afraid they might have to wait a little bit longer.

Adama didn't know whether to hope for this to be _the_ Earth or not. So much had been gambled in this last jump and it would be nice to have it pay off, to have his trust rewarded. It would be a desperately needed morale boost to the falling-apart fleet. On the other hand, if it was _the_ Earth, it appeared to be in extremely dire straits and was unlikely to be the refuge everyone was counting on.

His phone rang. He put his troublesome thoughts aside and answered it. "This is the Admiral."

"Sir. Commander Shepard said we're approaching Mars, and she wants to talk to you." Dee's voice sounded a little strained. Small wonder, given the circumstances.

Adama nodded. "Patch her through, Dee."

He heard the click and static of another line being connected. "This is Commander Shepard. Who am I speaking to?"

"Admiral William Adama, military commander of the Colonial Fleet."

"Admiral Adama. We're on approach to Mars right now. I apologize for leaving you hanging during transit. Our departure from Earth was unexpected and I had to take stock of my people and my supplies."

Adama nodded. "Perfectly understandable. I think your priorities were in order."

"I'm glad you agree," Shepard said. "And I'm afraid I can't make any time for a sit-down with you anytime soon. I have an important mission on the surface. It can't wait - the Reapers will be hot on our heels - and I don't have the personnel to send anyone else in my place."

"Reapers," Adama said. "Those are the black ships heading towards - Earth."

"Yes, Admiral. Now, since you've never heard of a relay, and my scans have shown that you do indeed only have FTL capability, that tells me that you left Earth before any of the Prothean technology was discovered on Mars. Before humanity learned that it wasn't alone in the galaxy. Which means that you have absolutely no idea of what you've walked into. And if you're going to keep your people alive, you need to find that out. Fast."

"What are you proposing, Commander Shepard?" Adama asked.

"An exchange of sorts," Shepard replied. "I'll give you someone from my crew that you can pump for information. They'll get you up to speed on the general human situation. History, politics, military. In return, you give me one of your people. They'll come down to the surface with me. Tell me your story, and get a firsthand glimpse of what we're up against. If you do agree to this, Admiral, you need to send me the toughest sonofabitch you've got. Someone who can fight, and can fight _smart_. I'd prefer it if we didn't meet any resistance, but I think it's unlikely. It's not ideal, but it's the best I can offer you right now."

"You're asking me to send one of my people into danger, and all you can offer is someone to give us the 'basics'?" Adama asked, trying to keep a note of incredulity from entering his voice.

Shepard sighed. "Admiral, as I've been trying to tell you, there's a hell of a lot of basics to catch you up on _before_ we get to the Reapers. And the only person that's of high enough rank to give you the military part of the basics, and can be spared from ship duties, is someone that I'd planned to take with me to Mars on my ground crew. Which means that I'm putting a great deal of trust that whoever you send me is going to be able to keep themselves alive. If they can't handle themselves, that makes it harder for me. That makes it less likely that any of us will return. I don't have any confirmation of hostile forces on Mars, but it's unlikely we'll be that lucky." Shepard paused for a moment. "The other thing to keep in mind, Admiral, is that you don't really have much of a choice. You need my help. You won't find the relay in time, and even if you did, you wouldn't have any idea how to use it. Any system you'd jump to that would be nearby would have the same risk of the Reapers coming through and finding you. If you work with me, we can get clear of the Sol system and will have more leisure to figure out the next steps. How to keep those civilians of yours safe." She sighed. "I can't say that I'd be thrilled with what I'm proposing if I was on your end. I am sorry that I can't do better. But you picked the worst possible time to come to Earth. You'd probably be dead if I hadn't been around to assist you in those first few minutes."

Adama hated what she was saying. Hated that his fleet had suddenly become dependent upon someone else's decisions. But the evidence supported every single claim she'd made. And … this was _Earth._ These people had to be the Thirteenth Tribe. There'd be mutiny if he made the decision to just leave and try his luck somewhere else. Commander Shepard had him boxed into a corner, and she knew it. If anything, she didn't have enough of an understanding of the constraints he was facing.

"I'll need to speak to some of my people about this," he said.

"I'm afraid I can't give you a whole lot of time," Shepard replied. "Make the decision quickly, Admiral. Shepard out."

Adama heard the line disconnect, and he took off his glasses to run his uninjured hand through his hair. "You hear that, Dee?"

"Yes, sir."

"What do you think?"

Dee hesitated. "I think she's right, sir. I think we need to see this through."

"I agree with you," Adama said with a long sigh. "Get me … Laura Roslin. Lee. Karl and Sharon Agathon. Kara Thrace. And Colonel … Colonel Tigh."

"Yes, sir." The line went silent for a few minutes before Dee came back on. "Sir, Mr. Gaeta says he has something he wants to show you in CIC. He's completed a preliminary analysis of the ships we've encountered so far."

"Then tell everyone to meet me in the CIC," Adama said. He winced slightly as he pushed himself to his feet, but there was no time for pain now. His people were counting on him to act.

* * *

"Something's bugging me, Shepard."

Shepard turned to see that Ash had come up to stand next to her, arms folded across her chest. Ash was a comfortingly familiar sight, standing there in her dark t-shirt and pants, her black hair pulled back into a bun. "Just one thing?" Shepard asked lightly.

Ash chuckled. "Okay, there's a lot of things, but the _primary_ one is - why are you going out of your way to help these people?"

"Well, I could say that it's because I want to save as many people as I can," Shepard replied. "Or that, as I said, I'll take allies where I can find them. Even if they appear to be a small individual force - it could add up." She paused. "But, really, it's because I'm curious."

Ash considered, and then nodded. "I think I get it. I saw some of the data from the Normandy's -" she hesitated, looking uneasy, and then continued. "From EDI's scan. They're really using FTL drives?"

"They're not giving off any eezo emissions, so they aren't using mass effect cores," Shepard replied. "In fact, EDI said the trails don't match _any_ known readings. Which is just weird. And their lead ships are over a kilometer long. Each."

"Damn," Ash said. "They're monsters."

"But no eezo means no mass effect weapons," Shepard said. "I mean, if it turns out they're carrying some sort of unknown super death rays, I'll be glad to be wrong. But right now, all the evidence points to them building the type of ships we might have built if we had never discovered mass effect technology." She shook her head. "Mom would know more. I wish I knew where she was right now."

Ash was quiet for a moment before she spoke again. "I met your mom, a little while back."

"Oh?" Captain Hannah Shepard had made time to come and see her daughter during the six months she'd been in lockdown. And given said daughter a piece of her mind about her actions after coming back from the dead. Deservedly so, to a large extent. Not that Shepard the younger hadn't had excuses, but parents rarely accepted their child's excuses. For anything.

"Meeting her explains a lot about you," Ash said, grinning, and Shepard felt the tension between them ease up a bit. "I see where you get it from."

"Shepards take no shit," Shepard quoted her mother.

Ash laughed softly. "She may have said those exact words, even." There was another brief pause before Ash spoke again. "Look, Shepard, things are a bit … awkward, between us right now."

"Well, that's the understatement of the century," Shepard said, doing her best to keep the easy camaraderie going.

Ash grinned back at her. "So … why not just have Vega back you up on Mars? Why send _him_ to these weird people - and not me?"

Shepard let out a breath as she considered how to respond. "Vega's a good soldier," she said. "Despite my offer to let someone come with us, I still don't really know what's going on. If I ask him to, he'll give the party line. The basics about the Alliance and Earth, but nothing more. We don't have time to do a sit-down now, so I'll give them enough to chew over until we _do_ have time." She paused. "And, finally, because I'd rather have you watching my back. Despite our differences, Ash, I trust you more."

Ash ducked her head and barked out a laugh. "Hell, Shepard," she said after a minute. "I'm supposed to be _mad_ at you. Why'd you have to go and say something like that?"

"Because it's what I do," Shepard said, grinning broadly. "So what do you say?"

"You're on," Ashley replied. "It's obvious that you really mean it, that you want things to be better between us - and that says a lot, it really does. I'll back you up on Mars." She grinned. "Though if you start doing something truly suicidal, I reserve the right to run the other way. Ma'am."

"Sounds fair to me," Shepard replied, chuckling softly. "I can't blame you for trying to save your own skin in the face of blatant stupidity. I'd like to think I wouldn't do anything that qualifies as truly suicidal, but - hell. You never know."

"That's the damn truth," Ash said. The two women stood in silence for a moment, watching their surroundings. Shepard was amused to see Ash's gaze drawn like a lodestone towards Lieutenant Vega as he walked over to talk to the shuttle pilot, Cortez. She had to admit that he was extremely easy on the eyes, although her heart was fully committed elsewhere.

She couldn't help the wicked smile that crept over her face as an idea occurred to her - a way to kill the proverbial two birds with one stone. "Say, Ash," she said, trying to sound casual, "I was going to talk to Cortez for a bit, get to know him. Since we are sending Vega off on his own, do you think you could speak with him and get more of a sense of his opinion on things?"

Ash gave her a look that suggested she knew exactly what Shepard was doing. Shepard kept her face as neutral as she could, resisting the urge to giggle. It would be terribly undignified. "Yeah. Sure. I can do that."

"Thanks, Ash," Shepard said and started forward. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ash pass her, striding up to Vega, before the two of them walked off towards the elevator. She shook her head and walked up to Cortez, wondering how much longer she'd have to wait for an answer from the Galactica.

* * *

The CIC was noisy and crowded, and Adama wondered for a moment if they shouldn't have had the meeting in his quarters. Then he shook the regrets away and leaned over the display, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

"That can't be right," Saul growled. Adama looked up to see his old friend glaring at Lieutenant Gaeta. "You can't seriously be telling me that that tiny ship could take us on."

"That's exactly what I'm saying-" Gaeta stopped mid-sentence, clearly unsure how to address Saul. He turned to look at Adama instead, avoiding that thorny issue. "Sir. The Normandy is emitting a very powerful energy signature. I have no idea what it is, but that hasn't stopped me from assessing it as stronger than the Cylon basestar."

"You're sure?" Adama asked. He couldn't hide the surprise in his voice. "Just how small is it?"

"I - Admiral, I'm not sure, but for now, think of it as roughly Colonial One's size," Gaeta said. That silenced all chatter around them for a moment.

Adama cleared his throat and broke the tense silence. "And the other ones? The large black ships?"

"Sir, I don't even want to think about that," Gaeta replied. "I can't get a clear reading on them, but it seems safe to assume that they're at least as powerful as the Normandy. Likely even more powerful."

"That's impossible," Lee said. Adama could tell that it was more of a reflex than an actual denial. These ships were throwing everything they thought they knew about the universe and their place in it out the window.

"Apparently not," Karl said, leaning over the display. "From what I've seen, I'd have to agree with Lieutenant Gaeta."

"You said you spoke to this Commander Shepard," Laura said quietly. "What did she have to say?"

"That she has important business on the planet Mars and will send one of her subordinates to brief us on the basics," Adama said. "If we send one of ours with her."

"Like hell we will," Saul said. "We don't have any frakking clue what's going on. That's a recipe for disaster if I ever heard one."

"No," Kara said. "We have to learn more about what she knows. If that's what it takes -" She straightened herself up and looked Adama in the eyes. "I volunteer to go, Admiral."

"If anyone would go, it would be you," Adama said. "You seem to know the most about Earth these days."

"This isn't exactly what we were expecting," Laura said, looking around at the faces of everyone gathered there.

Everyone turned to look at Kara, whose coordinates had lead them here in the first place. Kara shook her head. "I didn't see anything like this when I was there before. But this has to be Earth. It just … has to be."

"We can't leave now," Lee said, sounding exasperated. "Everyone already knows that we found a planet called Earth, and that there are humans on it. It's like New Caprica. It doesn't matter that it isn't safe or smart. People want a home, and if we back away from this -"

"Exactly my thoughts," Adama said. "Shepard promised to help us get things straightened out when we're out of danger. Circulate that information. It should help keep things under control for now."

"I don't like this," Karl said. "We don't know anything about these people. They have the upper hand here. We can't trust them."

"Trusting the Cylons was a leap of faith," Lee said, running a hand through his hair. Adama had some idea of how stressful it had been for him, facing down D'Anna Biers to save the hostages aboard the basestar. Doing the job his Old Man couldn't bring himself to do at that moment. Adama felt his stomach clench with the memory of the despair he'd experienced, not so long ago. "Look what it lead to."

"A Cylon civil war," Athena said quietly. "Between those who want to work with humans and those who want to continue the genocide. We have the chance to make peace. Don't discount that."

"And that's another area where we need more answers," Adama said. "Athena. I need you to speak to D'Anna. Learn more about what she knows."

"I can make the effort as well," Saul said in his usual gruff manner. "They wanted us badly, after all."

Adama took a minute to look over at his - at Saul. He wanted to trust him, just like he'd done before. He just didn't know if he could.

"All right," he finally agreed. "Kara goes with Commander Shepard to Mars. Athena and Saul speak to the rebel Cylons and try to get more information." Adama turned his gaze on his son. "The rest of you… keep things under control. The last thing we need is riots or mutiny."

Heads nodded in agreement. Adama resisted the urge to let out a sigh. "Dismissed. Except you, Starbuck," he added quickly. "We need to go over things before the rendezvous."

"Yes, sir," Kara replied, nodding and coming to stand next to him as he picked up the phone to let Commander Shepard know he would agree to her terms.


	3. Chapter 3

Kara Thrace had seen a lot of bizarre things recently. If she closed her eyes, she could still see the clouds that she'd flown her Viper into, that had eventually taken her to what she had been convinced was Earth. She could see the mandala that she'd been painting since childhood, the flashes she'd gotten of the path on the way back to the Fleet - flashes that had eventually lead them to Shepard's Earth. But she had to admit, Shepard's Earth was different than the one she'd seen (visited?), which didn't sit easy with her.

Kara was the only one of the crew not turned out in full ceremonial regalia on the flight deck, despite the short notice given by the Old Man about their important visitors. She had a marine's combat armor on, the best that could be found onboard, and carried a rifle and a pistol. Besides her, the Old Man himself was standing at attention, his bandaged hand behind his back.

Lee and the President were standing next to one another, as they had been since Roslin came back from the basestar. _Shouldn't it be the Old Man she's glued to?_ Kara thought, with a flash of jealousy. It was unfair of her, especially since Lee was a civilian now. Hell, he'd _been_ the President while Roslin was gone. But he'd been there for her so many times now …

She shoved that thought away ruthlessly, returning her attention to everyone gathered there with her. Even the newly revealed Cylons had been permitted to attend. Tigh stood a half-step behind the Old Man, where he'd always been; Tyrol was off to the side with the rest of the flight deck crew. And Sam - Sam had taken his place with the rest of the Viper pilots. It was still odd to see him there.

"Shuttle coming in," someone called, and everyone stood to attention. Kara felt her heart beating in her chest as she watched the launch tubes.

What flew up - _flew,_ not rolled - was about the same size as a Raptor, but there the resemblance ended. There were no wings on it - just rear thrusters that were dropped slightly below the rest of the boxy shape. There was also no visible armament on it. The shuttle was painted blue with a few white stripes, one of the stripes containing a logo and what Kara assumed was some sort of identifying number-letter combination. She knew her jaw was open, and when she looked around she saw she wasn't the only one completely gobsmacked by the sight.

Gentle as a bird returning to the nest, the shuttle set down on the ground. Kara heard the tell-tale sounds of an airtight door depressurizing and the hatch opened. She watched in utter fascination as three people - _humans after all_ \- stepped out. For the first time since the jump, Kara felt a bone-deep certainty that what they'd jumped to _had_ been Earth. Despite the incongruities, the surprises, and the unlikelihood of it all - they'd found the Thirteenth Tribe. Their long-lost cousins. They could have come from any ship on the Fleet, any of the Twelve Colonies.

The three of them arranged themselves in a triangular formation, giving everyone a clue as to which of the two women was the Commander Shepard the Old Man and Dee had spoken to. The woman at the triangle's point was light-skinned, had red hair, shorter than Kara's, and green eyes, as well as a small scar over her left eyebrow. Her skin was a tone to match Kara's own, and she was wearing hard, black armor, with a stripe of red running down one arm and 'N7' in white on her chest plate. A military designation of some kind?

The other woman wore her black hair in a bun, with slightly darker skin than the other woman, and her armor was a dark blue with white stripes running down the side. Kara realized that the shuttle and the woman's armor had nearly identical coloring, which probably meant that blue-on-white was the default military color scheme.

The third member of the group, scanning the area with obvious surprise on his face, wore the same armor as Shepard's other companion. He had a tattoo on the side of his neck, black against his brown skin. Kara felt a bit of a lurch at the superficial similarity to her own tattoo. His black hair was cropped short, but came up to a point at the center of his head in what must be some sort of styling. Like Shepard, his face was scarred in visual testament to past battles.

They were all soldiers. That was painfully obvious in how they all moved, the weapons at their sides, the armor they wore. What kind of world did these people come from? How high up in the military system were they? Shepard commanded her own ship, but how important was that ship? And what rank did her companions hold?

_You'll find out soon enough, Starbuck._

The Old Man stepped forward and extended his left hand to the woman in front. "Welcome to the Galactica."

"Admiral Adama," the redheaded woman said. "Commander Artemis Shepard. Also a Council Spectre."

_Artemis?_ Kara's mouth went dry, and she heard many people around her murmuring at the name. This woman shared the name of a Lord of Kobol. That was meaningful, it had to be - yet another piece of evidence that these people were descendants of the Thirteenth Tribe.

Shepard looked confused at all the murmuring, which was completely understandable. "Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams, and Lieutenant James Vega," she said, nodding to her companions in turn.

"This is President Laura Roslin," the Old Man said, starting the introductions on the Colonial side. "Vice President Lee Adama. My XO, Captain Karl Agathon." He turned to Kara. "Captain Kara Thrace. She'll be accompanying you to … Mars."

"Commander Shepard, I realize that time is of the essence," the President said, doing her best to affect a broad smile. Kara, who'd spent a lot of time around her, heard the waver in her voice and the slight tremble in the way she held herself, and wondered how much it was costing her to appear normal. "But there's one question we need answered. Earth is … your home?"

"Humanity's homeworld, yes," Shepard said, a frown appearing on her face. "Though it's-"

Whatever Shepard was about to say was lost in the roar that erupted from her words. It wasn't surprising that people would want to celebrate, Kara thought, though she couldn't find it in her to join them. The confusion on the newcomers' faces was evident as they exchanged words and glances.

After a few minutes the Old Man held up his undamaged hand, and the crowd slowly quieted. "As you might guess, we'll have many questions for whichever of you is staying here," he said.

Shepard nodded. "That'd be Lieutenant Vega." The tall, muscular man took a step forward and started scanning the crowds.

Kara took that as her cue to walk forward and nod to Shepard. "Commander," she said.

"Call me Shepard," the other woman replied. "I hope you won't need it, but it's good you came armed." She frowned as her gaze traveled to the rifle. "May I see this?" she asked.

Kara shrugged and unclipped it, handing it to Shepard for inspection. The other woman shook her head. "James, give Captain Thrace your Avenger," she called out.

"Aye aye, Commander," Vega said, tossing a broad grin Kara's way as he brought his rifle out. Kara unclipped her rifle and handed it to Lee, forgetting in that moment that he was a civilian. "Madre de Dios! You still use these ancient things?"

"Ancient things?" Kara said, looking at the weapon Shepard had called an Avenger. It had an odd design, smooth and straight, and it was definitely heavier than the one she'd just given up. She hoped it wouldn't be too difficult to use.

"Yeah, no thermal clips," Vega said.

_What's the alternative?_ Kara wondered, but didn't ask it aloud as she continued to examine the weapon.

Shepard coughed. "I hope you won't need it, but - well. We are at war. We should be going, Captain Thrace."

"Yes, ma'am," Kara replied, and took one last look at the flight deck. Lee offered her a small salute with his free hand, and she met Sam's gaze before ducking inside the shuttle behind Shepard and Williams.

The interior was a lot more open than that of a Raptor, more like a civilian shuttle. Kara saw another person sitting at the front of the shuttle, a dark skinned man who must be the pilot. He wasn't in armor, wearing what was presumably a standard issue uniform.

"Ready to go, Commander?" the pilot asked.

"Ready," Shepard confirmed. "Cortez, this is Captain Kara Thrace. This is Lieutenant Steve Cortez. He pilots the Kodiak for us."

Kara nodded to Cortez and followed the other women to the Kodiak's seats. "Hell of a way to travel," she commented. "Is this thing armed?"

"Yeah, we've got mass accelerator cannons on the front," Williams said.

"I'm sorry - what?" Kara said.

"I'll explain in a minute," Shepard said. "But first - what the hell was that, about Earth? Were you looking for us, or something?"

Kara took a deep breath and launched into the explanation of how the Fleet came to be. The Cylon attack on the colonies, something that had both women straightening in their seats and exchanging a significant glance. Their search for a new home, following the Scrolls of Pythia and trying to find the mythical Earth, where the Thirteenth Tribe had supposedly gone. She glossed over some of the details of how they'd come to jump to Earth, leaving out the fact that she had _died_ or the near-disaster that had come from the standoff with the Cylon who called herself D'Anna Biers.

When Kara had finished talking, Shepard was shaking her head. "Earth's no refuge for you right now," she said. "I don't really know where you're going to go, to be honest. The Citadel's going to be overflowing with refugees, and the Reapers are probably hitting our colonies too." Her mouth twisted in an expression of disgust. "Tell me more about the Cylons."

So Kara did, starting with the 'toaster' models and moving on to the skinjobs. Williams let out an oath when she got to that part that was almost as good as one Kara would have used. Kara talked most about Boomer, Athena, and the Sixes, leaving everything with Leoben aside for the moment. They didn't need to know those details. She also held back on the so-called Final Five. If she didn't understand how the hell that had happened, they didn't need to know it. Yet. She did tell them about the division between the models, which ones were traveling with them on the basestar.

"That explains some things," Shepard said. "Edie, you copy?"

"Yes, Shepard," a female, mechanical voice said from the speakers, and Kara jumped so suddenly she banged her arm on the wall.

"Motherfrakker!" she exclaimed as the other two woman looked at her in confusion. "That sounds like one of the Cylon models. The Sixes."

"Huh," Shepard said after a long pause.

"I had never heard of Cylons before today, Captain Thrace," Edie said. "Though I now wish to meet one of these Sixes."

Shepard folded her arms and looked at Kara with another one of those significant expressions. "Edie's the AI of the Normandy."

"Your ship is run by an _AI?_" Kara exclaimed.

"She's seventeen different kinds of illegal, but she's on our side," Shepard said. "Saved me and my crew more than once."

"Gods," Kara said, shaking her head. "Hey, Shepard. What's up with your first name?" It was an extremely inelegantly phrased question, but she was rattled to hell and back by all of this.

"Dad was a professor of classical mythology. Greeks, Romans, that sort of thing," Shepard said. "Wait - you probably have no damn clue as to what that means. The Greeks lived, oh, three thousand years ago. They were polytheists, worshipped a pantheon of gods and heroes. Artemis is the goddess of -"

"The hunt," Kara cut in. "She's one of our goddesses." She swallowed. "One of the ones I pray to."

It was Shepard's turn to curse, in a guttural and clipped language that was completely incomprehensible to Kara. Williams looked at her Commander with an arched eyebrow, an almost appreciative expression, as though _she_ understood. "There's some connection between your people and ours, that's for damned sure," Shepard said.

"Is the Citadel the seat of government?" Kara asked. "It sounded like Earth was your home planet."

"Earth is humanity's home," Shepard said slowly. "The Citadel is the heart of galactic government. Humans … aren't the only species in the galaxy."

Kara's jaw dropped again. "Say _what_?"

"There's thirteen other races in the galaxy," Shepard said calmly, while Kara's brain stuttered to a halt at that statement. _Thirteen other races._ "Maybe that number ought to be higher, now that I'm thinking about it. Regardless, the ones you should know about are the other Council races - asari, turians, and salarians." She offered the other woman a crooked smile. "I hope that my friends of those races will forgive me for being somewhat pithy and stereotypic when describing them. The asari are all female, and long-lived compared to the other races - they live about a thousand years. The salarians are on the other end - nine males for every female and with a life span of about forty years. Turians are very regimented and hierarchical, with an emphasis on service and duty to their people - but their gender ratio and life span is more in line with humans." Shepard looked at Williams as though trying to decide something, before turning her gaze back to Kara. "There's one more race I should tell you about. The quarians."

"Why?" Kara asked. She was trying to process everything that she'd just heard. But clearly there was something that Shepard wanted her to know. "What's special about them?"

Shepard met Kara's eyes with an almost unnatural serenity. "They're what your people could be, in three hundred years' time," the redheaded woman said. "They created the geth, who drove them off their homeworld."

"Gods." That was the only thing that Kara could think to say.

Shepard nodded. "Now that you know that humans aren't alone - let me tell you about the Reapers."

Kara listened to the rather outrageous story of the geth being pawns of these greater robotic beings, the Reapers, what they had tried to do two years ago through the turian Saren, and what Shepard had done to stop them. Her subsequent death and resurrection by Cerberus, which got a definite reaction out of Kara, with the parallels to her own apparent situation. (She still didn't really know what to think about how she'd been able to come back to the fleet.) The race to stop the Collectors, and then the invasion of Earth and her orders to get to the Citadel.

"Coming in for a landing, Commander," Cortez said from the front of the shuttle.

"Got it." Shepard looked at Kara again. "That suit of yours doesn't have a breathing mask, does it?"

"No, it doesn't," Kara admitted. _Damn_. They were out of time. There were so many more questions that she wanted to ask, so much more that she needed to learn about this strange place the Fleet had wound up in. What was the connection between her people and Shepard's? Why was this Earth nothing like the one she'd seen before? She ground her teeth together and bit back the questions with a serious effort. There was no point in antagonizing Shepard, and besides, they were about to step onto a new planet. New for Kara, that was. She knew there would be a lot that she could learn by just looking, and maybe there'd be more space for questions along the way.

"Extra masks in that cabinet," Shepard said, pointing to one near the door. "You've got goggles, at least. That'll help with the dust storms."

"Joker, anything new?" Cortez asked.

"I've been trying to reach Mars on secure channels. No one's answering," the pilot said.

"Any sign of Reaper activity?" Shepard asked.

"Negative."

"The base appears to be online," the AI that sounded like a Six said. "It's possible the inhabitants were evacuated."

Shepard sighed. "We'll know soon enough. Be ready … just in case."

The shuttle landed with much less jostling than Kara was used to, and she grabbed a mask from the cabinet that Shepard had indicated before the door opened. Shepard exited first, gun drawn, and Williams motioned for Kara to follow before she jumped down herself. Kara took the opportunity to scan the environment looking for the same threats they were, but she found her gaze drifting around and wished that she could just stand still and drink it all in. The atmosphere of Mars reminded her of the planet she'd she'd crashed her Viper on, not long after the exodus from the Colonies. But there were _buildings_ and structures there. This was a planet where people _lived. _Lots of them. Possibly more than the entire population of the Fleet. The thought chilled her. The Fleet was badly outnumbered by these humans. It would be too easy for them to be forgotten, especially with these people facing an enemy that sounded just as bad as the Cylons had ever been.

Kara resolved that she would do everything in her power to prevent that from happening. She would make sure that Shepard - or someone else - remembered and gave a damn about what happened to the Fleet.

"Cortez says our comms will be down in about half an hour," Shepard said. Her voice was projected through a speaker that Kara quickly identified as being on her helmet. "Let's try to be out of here by then, if possible."

"Understood, Shepard," Kara said, the words muffled through her breathing mask. Vega's gun was an unfamiliar weight in her hands. She almost wished she'd fought harder to keep her own weapon. Maybe they wouldn't encounter any trouble on whatever this mission of Shepard's was.

_Yeah, because that's always how these things go, Kara._

They moved across the rocky ground, the wind howling around them. Kara reminded herself to take deep breaths and keep moving rather than letting the enormity of her surroundings get to her. They reached a cliff and Shepard jumped down first, scanning the area before motioning to the other two to follow.

"Aw, hell," Williams said. Kara turned and saw a body, slumped against the back wall of rock. "He's Alliance. Sergeant Reeves. Looks like he didn't put up much of a fight."

"Doesn't take a genius to know something's wrong with that," Kara said cautiously, scanning the area.

"Keep a low profile till we know what's going on," Shepard ordered.

The trio advanced forward slowly until they came to an area with waist-high barriers set up, leading towards a slope. Kara craned her head to see a group of soldiers standing around someone else in armor, on his knees -

"Anyone else think that looks like an execution?" she asked.

"Goddammit," Shepard cursed. "Stick to cover and move forward."

Kara followed Shepard and Williams' lead as they closed the gap between them and the other group. Something was very, very off about this whole thing, and Kara didn't have the slightest clue what that might be.

And then the other group opened fire, and there was no more time to think about it.

Kara was used to being the one in charge of ground teams, who knew how to shoot and not get shot - but it was clear after only a few moments that she was seriously outclassed by Shepard and Williams. Shepard was only using a pistol, but she was making every single shot count - and there was something bright and orange on her arm that seemed to be doing something as well. Kara decided she'd try to figure it out later. For now, she really needed to focus on staying alive and holding her own. The Avenger was a heavy weapon, and Kara's first few shots were cautious and measured, getting a feel for how the gun functioned. She remembered her determination not to be forgotten and became bolder with when she popped out from cover to take shots at the other group.

Sooner than Kara would have guessed, the men in front of them were dead. Shepard signaled Williams and moved forward.

"Those guys were Cerberus," Williams said, an obvious note of disgust in her voice.

"I told you, Ash, I don't work for them anymore," Shepard replied. "I want to stop the Illusive Man just as much as you do."

"The Illusive Man?" Kara said. "That's the leader of this Cerberus group?" At Shepard's nod, she barked out a laugh. "He sounds more egotistical than Gaius Baltar."

Shepard grinned. "We can compare notes about egotistical maniacs later. For now - we need to get to the Mars Archives. I'll tell you about them, and what we need to find, on the way."


	4. Chapter 4

Kara was almost grateful for the additional Cerberus groups that popped up between the three women and the building they were heading for. Each engagement gave her a better feel for the heavy Avenger. She followed Shepard and Williams' lead in scavenging ammunition off of their fallen enemies, quickly gaining an appreciation for the universal design. It meant they never had to worry about running out of bullets - something that had been an issue more than once on the Fleet.

When they weren't mowing down Cerberus troops, Shepard told her about the Mars Archives and what they were hoping to find there. Kara was doing her best to keep up, but she was nearly positive that there were things flying right over her head. What the hell kind of world did these people inhabit? All the different types of aliens - long-dead or still around, evil robots that sounded just as bad as the Cylons…

Finally they made it over to a building, Shepard and Williams removing their helmets as soon as the door finished pressurizing. Kara pulled off her mask as the platform started to climb.

They entered into a large room with multiple ground vehicles (how long had it been since she'd seen one of _those?_) and screens. But no sooner had Kara started to get a feel for her surroundings than a clanging sound came from overhead, and her companions scrambled to find cover. Kara decided it would be a good idea to follow suit.

After only a minute, she located the source of the sound - someone was running through the air ducts, and someone else was chasing them - firing at them too. She felt a flutter of anxiety at not knowing what was coming, and kept her eyes on Shepard and Williams.

The air duct vent flew away and someone dropped to the floor. Only long years of practice kept Kara's mouth shut when it desperately wanted to open and yell out _Motherfrakker!_

Because the person who dropped down was _blue_. Like one of the aliens in old science fiction programs Kara watched late at night when she was a kid. She - Kara had to assume that breasts meant the same thing in whatever species this was - also had _tentacles_ instead of hair.

The blue woman nimbly hopped over a set of barrels and paused when her pursuers - more of the Cerberus troops they'd fought outside - slid out of the air duct. An ally, then, presumably. She turned around, and - what the _hell_ was happening? Her _hand_ was glowing blue now?

Blue skin, blue glow - what was next, were those damned tentacles going to come to life and strangle someone?

The blue glow did … _something_ … to the woman's pursuers, lifting them off the ground and spinning them in circles. Then they crashed to the floor with an audible _thump_.

Kara was shocked to see the woman walk forward and coolly shot one of them in the head. Twice. And then do the same to his downed companion.

"Damn, Liara," Williams muttered, which was Kara's first clue that the blue woman might not be a total stranger to her companions.

Shepard waited a heartbeat longer before stepping forward, a broad grin on her face. The blue woman whipped around, gun out, and then lowered it. Relief crested over her elegant features. "Shepard! Thank the Goddess you're alive."

"Liara," Shepard replied, stepping forward and pulling the blue woman into a hug. "Good to see you again."

Kara took a minute to inspect this new person - old friend, it appeared. Liara's face was remarkably like a human, but unmistakably blue in tone, a light cobalt in color. Where the hairline would have been on a human was instead coated with small white blue dots that lead back to her tentacles. She also had what looked like freckles under her eyes. Which of the thirteen other races in this corner of the universe did Liara belong to? Kara knew there was no point in even trying to guess.

"I was worried when the reports came in. They hit Earth hard?" Liara said.

Kara just stood there as Williams also moved forward. "Yeah. It was … difficult to leave," Williams said.

"Ashley. I'm sorry," Liara said, turning to look at Williams. "But why are you here? I thought you'd be heading to the Citadel."

"Hackett ordered us to come. Said you'd know what was going on," Shepard replied, forcing Kara to re-evaluate some things. Despite Shepard's stated rank of 'Commander', she'd been running around like she was in charge and made all of her own decisions. To hear that she actually took orders from someone else …

Shepard finally seemed to notice Kara again, and she turned slightly. "Kara, this is Dr. Liara T'Soni, an old friend of ours. She's a member of the asari race." Liara looked confused at that, but Shepard kept going. "Liara, this is Captain Kara Thrace. She's … a new ally. It's kind of a long story, and I'm not sure I understand it fully yet."

"I'll keep explaining it as we go," Kara promised. "It's nice to meet you, Dr. T'Soni."

"Liara," the … _asari_ … said. "I haven't really felt like a doctor in quite some time. Not since I met Shepard, actually."

"Yeah, she's got a way of turning your world upside down," Williams said with a soft smile.

"Back to your question, Shepard, I do know what is going on," Liara said, starting to walk over to one of the windows. The others followed, Kara somewhat belatedly. "I've discovered plans for a Prothean device. One that could wipe out the Reapers."

"The Protheans were around 50,000 years ago, and got wiped out by the Reapers, right?" Kara asked, still determined to make this new information sink in so she didn't look like a complete idiot.

Liara looked puzzled, but nodded. Kara could only imagine what she was thinking - _Why doesn't she know all of these basic things?_ "Yes. The Mars Archives is humanity's home for all the information that the Protheans left behind. There's still so much we don't know. It could take several asari lifetimes to understand it all. I knew the Reapers were coming back soon, and I couldn't sit by and do nothing. Admiral Hackett contacted me. He also knew we were running out of time. He wanted me to use my resources as the Shadow Broker to find a way to stop the Reapers."

"_You're_ the Shadow Broker?" Williams interrupted. "Damn. You've come a long way from when we first saw you."

"Like most of us," Liara replied with a broad smile. "Or are you still afraid to call me friend, Ashley?"

"Not a chance in hell," Williams said, snorting in derision. "You can have my back any time, Liara."

Shepard cleared her throat. "The Mars Archives?"

"Yes, of course." Liara folded her arms across her chest and looked out the window. "My search lead me here. Hackett gave me access to the Archives and kept me updated on your status." She turned around and started pacing slowly. Kara tracked her movements "My work paid off. The Archives are full of data, as I said. I think I found what we need."

Shepard stepped forward. "Guess I'll believe it when I see it. Where do we find this weapon?"

Liara shook her head. "It's not a weapon, not yet. It's plans for a device. A blueprint."

"It's more than we had a minute ago," Shepard said, shrugging. "How do we get it?"

"The Archives are just across that tramway," Liara said, raising her arm to point at the tramway in question. Kara felt her stomach turning as, once again, she looked out onto scenery under an open sky. Sure, some of the ships had simulated atmospheres, but… this was _real_.

"Assuming, of course, that Cerberus hasn't locked it down," Liara continued.

"Is there any way they could be after the blueprint as well?" Shepard asked. "I was wondering what the hell they were doing here."

Liara sighed. "It seems likely. They were chasing me, after all."

"Cerberus always did want to get their hands on powerful and dangerous things," Shepard said ruefully.

"Let's beat 'em to the punch," Williams said.

As if in agreement, one of the far doors rattled. Sparks started coming through - Cerberus trying to force their way in, no doubt.

"Cortez, you copy?" Shepard said into her mic.

"Here, Commander. Interference is strong, but I can still make you out."

"Good. Be ready, Steve. More hostiles incoming." As she finished talking, Shepard ducked for cover, Kara and the other two following suit. Liara started glowing again as she peered around the corner at their pursuers. And smiled. It was not a nice smile.

"Not a problem for someone with biotics."

Kara watched in amazement as Liara thrust out her left hand and made the three Cerberus pursuers lift off the ground and start spinning around that bright area she had simultaneously created. She stared at it, mouth agape, before gritting her teeth and pulling out her gun. She would _not_ be a liability. She was _Starbuck_, the best Viper pilot on the Fleet. Kara fired the Avenger at one of the Cerberus troops dropping from the air vent, dropping him to the floor before he had a chance to fire on anybody. Kara allowed herself a small, satisfied smile before ejecting the thermal clip and finding another target.

A bright flash caught her attention. Kara turned, gun raised, and that the glow was coming from Shepard's arm. This time she noted that the light source was a kind of of interface, which instantly put Kara in mind of some Cylon tech. A streak of orange fire shot out from the interface, traveling the short distance to one of their enemies and burning straight through his armor. Kara had to admit that seeing him flail around wildly, trying to put the fire out, was a rather satisfying sight.

Kara put a round into the last soldier standing and watched him fall to the ground. She turned to Shepard, then Liara. "What was - that blue thing you were doing? Bio-something?"

"Biotics," Liara said, giving Shepard another puzzled look before turning back to Kara. "Where did you say you were from?"

Kara sighed. "Somewhere very, very far away from here." She'd long since lost track of the number of jumps that they'd made, but she knew how long it had been and remembered clearly how often they had jumped at times. "Like, outside your galaxy - what's it called?"

"The Milky Way," Shepard supplied.

Liara's eyes opened wide with amazement and curiosity. "Outside the galaxy? Do you mean to say that there are humans outside the galaxy? Outside the mass relay system?" She turned to Shepard. "Think of what this could mean!"

"Oh, I'm thinking," Shepard said dryly. "But there's a bit more to it than that. Don't get too excited just yet."

Kara grimaced and took the cue to continue. "We've been traveling from our home for about three years. Don't know how long that translates to on your calendar, and I have no frakking clue where to even _begin_ with that. We had to flee after the Cylons attacked. Those would be _our_ killer robots that decided they didn't like taking orders and rose up to kill us all. Some of which-" she took a deep breath "-look human. We call those the skinjobs. And of course no one knew that the Cylons decided to make themselves look human-" She paused again. "Sorry. There were actually two Cylon wars. The first, more of a rebellion, took place before I was born. The second was more of a decisive first strike, involved the skinjobs, and killed _billions_. They wanted to wipe us all out and damn near succeeded. As far as I know, our Fleet is all that's left of our Twelve Colonies. And that's only about forty thousand people."

"Goddess," Liara breathed. "I'm so sorry, Captain Thrace. What you've experienced … well, I fear it's what we might face if we fail to defeat the Reapers. But how did you come to find Shepard?"

"We were looking for Earth," Kara said. "It's the home of the Thirteenth Tribe - uh, our lost cousins in our mythology," she said, nearly cringing at how much she was leaving out. It was so frustrating to be talking to people that didn't know all the _basics_. As soon as she had finished that thought, she realized that must be how Shepard and the others felt about _them_.

"How utterly fascinating," Liara said, more than a little wonder in her voice. "You _must_ tell me about this mythology when we are done here. And you have to tell me how it differs, Shepard. Can you imagine? Two colonies of the same race reuniting after thousands of years apart? An examination of the similarities between the groups would be _fascinating_."

"You said that already," Shepard teased lightly. "I happen to agree, but we need to get this blueprint and get out alive first."

Liara nodded and turned to Kara. "You asked about biotics," she said, still radiating excitement, and began talking quickly on the topic. Kara did her best not to grimace as far too much of it flew over her head, but she thought she got the basics. Aside from the asari (who were all biotics), the ability to create mass effect fields was caused by in utero exposure to something called element zero. Liara diverted briefly from the subject to explain that element zero was what powered the mass effect relays. Kara followed that much - manipulation of element zero allowed these people to do things that her instincts and experience told her should be impossible. Shepard and Williams weren't biotics, and there weren't any others currently on the Normandy. Anyone with biotic abilities that wasn't asari needed a surgically installed amp to do anything with said abilities.

Kara resolved to point Liara in someone else's direction later - maybe Gaeta, if he didn't hate her for the loss of his leg. Baltar would have been better, but the slippery bastard was setting himself up as some kind of religious leader and could no longer be trusted. She briefly wished that he _could_ be trusted. He'd be able to make sense of the scientific side of what these people had to offer better than anyone else. She shook her head to clear the thought. There were many things she wished that she could change, and realistically speaking Baltar was near the end of that list.

Kara went back to scanning the environment with the others, looking for signs of trouble. "Ahead," she said in a low voice when she spotted a flash of armor. Shepard nodded and hand-signaled to Liara and Williams to take cover on the other side of the room, then found a crate and ducked behind it, motioning to Kara to follow. They all got into cover before the Cerberus troops noticed they were there..

Shepard lifted her left arm and brought up that bright orange interface once more. Kara watched in fascination, trying to figure out what was going on. Shepard was clearly practiced at the use of whatever this was, zipping through holographic screens too fast for Kara to have any hope of following. Then a small sphere appeared in the air in front of Shepard. Kara's eyes widened. Shepard caught the expression and grinned, then mouthed two words. _Combat drone._ She lifted her head slightly to catch Liara and Williams' attention, and the other women nodded. Kara guessed that they had fought together enough times to have an idea of what was coming, if not an actual plan of attack.

Shepard turned back to Kara. She pointed to the drone, then held up a finger. Kara started to nod, then stopped, frustrated with herself. She _couldn't_ assume that simple gestures meant the same thing to these people. She pointed to the drone and then in the direction of their enemies, paused, then pointed to herself and Shepard.

Shepard tilted her head to the side in confusion, then seemed to understand. She nodded. Kara nodded back. If they had both read each other correctly, Kara had just agreed to Shepard's plan to have the drone go out and draw fire before the four of them attacked. Shepard tapped at her interface - programming commands for the drone? The purplish sphere seemed to shimmer for a moment before it glided forward. Then she heard something that sounded like the crackle of electricity and bodies thumping to the ground, and Shepard stood.

Kara's combat instincts took over. She poked her head out from behind the crate and caught a glimpse of Liara and Williams doing the same. Liara's hand flared blue as she caught some of the Cerberus troops in that spinning vortex again, while Williams tossed a grenade that set several of them on fire. Kara saw that a few of their enemies were attempting to hide behind shields. Shepard's drone floated over to one of them and zapped, presumably as it had done before. The soldier staggered, giving Kara an opening to put a couple of rounds in his head

"Nice," Williams said to Kara before shooting at some of the soldiers caught in Liara's vortex. Kara thought she was starting to see a pattern. They were all taking turns creating openings for the others - Liara's vortex, Williams' grenades, Shepard's drone. Kara took advantage of those openings while wishing that _she_ had something special to contribute. She _hated_ feeling like dead weight.

By unspoken agreement they all waited a short time after the end of the fighting before standing to regroup. "Search the room for anything useful," Shepard ordered. "And then let's move on."


	5. Chapter 5

"Why the _hell_ are these idiots just running forward to die?"

Kara had lost track of how many groups of Cerberus troopers they had encountered, but the group they had just demolished _had_ to be at least the fourth. She knew how the troops had gotten there - the woman that Liara had identified as Dr. Eva Coré had clearly bypassed the Mars Archives security protocols and let her allies in. It was standard Cylon protocol and Kara was _annoyed_ with the fact that it made her dwell on all the times it had been used against the Colonials. And the tactic of throwing as many bodies at your enemies as you could was also pure Cylon. But at least the Cylons were either machines who didn't care about dying, or skinjobs who knew they could be resurrected. The Cerberus troops were just _people_ \- weren't they?

"Got me," Williams said as the four of them stepped out of cover, scanning the area for anyone they might have missed. "I don't understand _anything_ Cerberus does."

"How many times do I have to say it, Ash?" Shepard asked, sounding tired. "I'm _not with them_."

Williams didn't respond. After a minute Shepard sighed and walked over to a set of controls before pressing a button and halting some kind of process that had been taking place in the next room. "That's the clean room," Liara said, seeing Kara's confused expression. "Shepard stopped the sterilization process so we can pass through there unharmed."

Kara nodded and waited for Shepard to signal them forward before moving. She had fallen into the pattern of looking to Shepard for direction as Williams and Liara did. There was no doubt that Artemis Shepard was a fine soldier. Her grasp of tactics could only be compared to the Old Man or the late Admiral Cain, both of whom were older and more experienced than Shepard. The four of them were consistently outnumbered, but Shepard always knew where to put them to get the greatest effect. She kept them moving, rotating to and from the front line, always trying to get maximum impact for minimal effort. Shepard ensured that all four of them walked away with only minimal dents in their armor and dead bodies around them (along with ammo to scavenge). Kara idly wished that Lee could have been there with her to see how Shepard operated. She knew he would have appreciated it as well.

The four of them scavenged the room, Kara passing off her findings to one of the other three for evaluation. With all of them working they cleared it in no time and moved on to the next room, towards the tram line that Liara said would take them right to the Archives - though first they'd have to deal with the Cerberus troops that had undoubtedly locked down the security station.

Kara resisted the urge to grumble, yet again, about idiots throwing their lives away.

"Kara," Shepard said, after rounding a corner. "Something you may want to see."

"What've you got?" Kara asked, coming up besides her.

"First of all, I'm going to take this opportunity to thank you for proving me wrong," Shepard said. "I was afraid you'd be a liability, but you haven't been. You've done just as good of a job as the rest of us." She offered a wry smile. "Because I've been paying such close attention to you to ensure that you weren't going to fuck up and get us killed, I've noticed that you do best up close, and that the Avenger's a bit heavy for you. Not your fault, it's the only thing we had to give you."

"But now?" Kara asked. She looked at the weapon Shepard was holding and tried to fight back the slight giddiness that came from Shepard's praise. She was not a raw recruit desperate for validation, dammit!

"Now, we've got this," Shepard said. "The M-23 Katana shotgun. Still a heavy weapon, but devastating up close. Want to give it a shot?"

Kara passed the Avenger to Williams and took the Katana. Shepard was right about the weight - it wasn't actually that much of a change from the Avenger, but Kara felt like the small difference would still be meaningful. She noted the barrel size and couldn't stop a smile from spreading across her face at the thought of how much damage this would do.

"I know that look," Shepard said, chuckling. "I usually see it on-" She stopped herself mid-sentence and almost looked ... embarrassed? It was odd to see Shepard looking less than completely confident in something. She cleared her throat. "Well. If it suits, you can leave the Avenger here. It's going to be a big cleanup job for the facility, one more weapon won't make a difference."

"Thanks, Shepard," Kara said, keeping the Katana out.

"That's the last door, up ahead," Liara said. "That'll take us to the tram station."

Shepard nodded. "Ash, Kara, you go on either side of that door. Liara behind Ash and me behind Kara. Ash, you open."

They took their positions and Williams reached out to open the door. Instantly a loud _whirr_ sounded and all of them flinched back from the unexpected high velocity bullet spray.

"The frak is that?" Kara demanded, heart pounding in her chest.

"Autoturret," Shepard said, sounding disgusted. "We're going to have to time this very carefully. At least there's cover moving forward."

The whirr stopped. "Ash - see if you can run forward," Shepard said.

Williams nodded and dashed forward, hugging the wall until she got to the next spot of cover. The autoturret unloaded again, but it didn't seem to be very accurate and it stopped before Williams had actually gotten to cover.

Shepard nodded. "Doesn't move while firing, inaccurate at long range, and small clip size. We're going to have to move between cover spots quickly, but I think we can do it. You up for it, Kara?"

"You bet," Kara said. "Can't be any worse than dodging a heavy raider planetside."

"You've had such an interesting life," Shepard said, deadpan. "All right. Move when you're ready, but do it fast."

Kara took a deep breath, counted to three, and sprinted. She hugged the wall and mirrored Williams' movements, hearing the bullets flying past her. Her heart was pounding when she flattened herself against the wall. She looked back and nodded at Shepard.

Shepard returned the nod. "Ash, Kara - move forward. Liara and I will take the spots you're about to vacate."

"Is giving it more targets a good idea?" Williams asked.

Shepard laughed. "Whoever programmed thing that ought to be ashamed of themselves. The aim is complete shit and it reloads way too often. It's scary, no doubt, but if we just use a bit of common sense it won't be able to hit us."

"You're the boss," Williams replied.

"You two see the next spots to aim for?" Shepard asked, looking between Kara and Williams. They both nodded, and Shepard grinned again. "Count of three. One, two, three!"

_We use the same numbers,_ Kara thought idly as she sprinted forward into the next bit of cover. _And we understand them from the moment they first made contact with us. It's frakking weird how alike we are._

Kara and Williams crouched next to one another behind a large crate, directly in front of the turret, with Liara and Shepard behind them. "The room is the same on either side," Liara said. "You should both be able to find cover while running to opposite sides."

"And once you're on the walls, you'll be better covered from the turret," Shepard said. "Home stretch. On three."

Kara was moving as soon as Shepard called _three_, sprinting for one crate and then the next. The turret didn't seem to know where to shoot with two targets running in opposite directions. Shepard had been right, the person that had programmed it was a frakking idiot.

"Good work," Shepard said in a low voice once they were right in front of the door to the security station. Liara and Williams waited on the other side, looking over for Shepard's signal.

"You weren't bad yourself," Kara replied with an impish grin.

Shepard chuckled, then lifted her left arm and deployed her combat drone. "On my signal, open the door, but don't move in," she said, holding up her right hand with her fingers tucked into a fist, keeping Liara and Williams still. She met Kara's eyes and nodded. "Now."

Kara opened the door. Shepard's combat drone glided inside. "Hey, what-" one of the Cerberus troops said, and then the crackle of electricity told Kara that the drone had just shocked the speaker.

"Don't just stand there, kill it!" one of the other soldiers said. A few short bursts of gunfire sounded, broken only by more electric crackles from the drone. Kara bit back a disbelieving laugh. Surely they weren't all going to be taken down by the drone...

Then, silence fell, and the drone flew back out to Shepard, who used her omni-tool to make it vanish. She beckoned them all forward into the room, where Kara could see that the drone had, in fact, taken them all down.

"Idiots," Williams said. Kara nodded in agreement.

"Want us to dig for treasure, Shepard?" Liara asked lightly.

"We are searching for valuable resources and information," Shepard said indignantly, but she was grinning. "Get to it."

Papers strewn across the floor caught Kara's eye. They just looked _wrong_ with the corners still on them. The incongruity was like an itch she couldn't reach, and she did her best to ignore it.

"Shepard, I can't override the security controls," Liara said. Kara turned to see the asari bent over the computers, shaking her head in frustration.

"We could try helmet-to-helmet communication," Williams suggested. "Grab a Cerberus comm and tell them to send a tram for us."

"Worth a try," Shepard agreed.

"Help me with this guy," Williams said to Kara, gesturing to one of the downed troops. Kara took one of the arms and helped to drag it over. Williams poked at the helmet, muttering what sounded like curses to herself, before getting it to move off.

"Frak me!" Kara swore as she saw what was underneath. It looked like a body that had been dead for a week instead of a handful of minutes, with unnaturally pale skin and purplish-black bruises. The eyes were even worse, an inhuman white with blue at the edges. Her stomach turned. She took a breath and got herself under control, struggling not to run away from the sight.

"That looks like a _husk_," Williams said angrily. "A goddamn husk like the ones on Eden Prime and Horizon. _Reaper_ technology."

"They've ... definitely done something to him," Shepard said, kneeling to inspect the body.

"They? Cerberus? They did this to _their own guys_?" This time the angry voice was Kara's. Her hands clenched into fists.

"And they claim to stand for humanity," Williams said, disgust evident in her voice.

Shepard shook her head. "I knew he was determined to stop the Reapers, but..." She sounded tired, almost resigned.

"Do you get it now, Shepard?" Williams asked. She was still angry, Kara could tell, but she was also pleading with Shepard. "Do you understand why I was suspicious? For all I knew, they did something like _that_ to you."

"They didn't," Shepard said. She looked Williams in the eyes. "Ash, I swear, they didn't. You think that didn't cross _my_ mind? The Illusive Man wanted me just as I was before Alchera. I got a look at some of the records. He paid a lot of money to ensure that they brought me back the same way I was before."

Williams was the first one to look away. "Sorry, Shepard," she said. "I just ... I had to know. I had to know who I was going to follow. If you were the same Shepard I followed before."

"I'm the same person, Ash," Shepard assured her.

"Hey!" Kara said, causing the other three to look at her. Williams seemed to have calmed down, but Kara was still boiling with fury. "You said _Reaper_ technology? A human used this on their _subordinates_?" Kara was remembering everything she'd been through, everything the Cylons had done to her at the various stages where she was at their mercy. The Farm, on Caprica. Leoben, on New Caprica. She'd hated it, hated _them_. It was very easy to hate your enemy. What Cerberus was doing seemed worse, somehow, because they _pretended_ they were on humanity's side. Seeing this _thing_ that had once been a person just confirmed that Cerberus was only on its own side.

Shepard nodded slowly. "We first saw this two years ago. It's some sort of process that turns people into … mindless, violent creatures."

"Not totally mindless, if they can hold a gun," Kara said bitterly.

"Yeah. The bastard's improved on it." Shepard shook her head. "I bet if we popped off the other helmets, we'd find the same thing. That means there have to be a lot more people in on this. A _lot_ of Cerberus scientists participating in this atrocity." She went absolutely still for a moment. "Which means there's a lot of people that are going to need to pay for this. A lot of facilities to destroy."

"And us with no time to do it," Williams said. "_Dammit._"

Shepard nodded, looking resigned.

"You know," Kara said slowly, "that could be a job for us." The others turned to look at her. "You've got bigger fish to fry, right? The Reapers? Galactica can't take on a Reaper, but with a few repairs it might be able to blow a few bases to smithereens." She was warming to the topic. "And our Cylons-" _how frakking weird is that, _our_ Cylons_ \- "can help. Raiders can scout ahead, and they'll be so far outside of what Cerberus is expecting that they can't respond."

"Damn," Shepard said after a long moment. "I'll need to think about it, but … you could be right, Kara. You may have just saved the Alliance a lot of trouble."

Kara grinned fiercely. Finally, something that _they_ could do that this Alliance couldn't.

"What are we waiting for, then?" she said. "Let's get started on kicking some Cerberus ass."

Shepard returned the grin and picked up the comm the Cerberus soldier had been carrying. "Uh, hi, this is Delta team…"

* * *

Kara had not been prepared for the Prothean Archives.

She felt like kicking herself as she just stood there like a lunatic, gawking. She had been thinking so hard about the similarities that she had almost forgotten the staggering differences. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting from the Archives, but it wasn't _this._

She stood alongside the other women in a large circular room, with an impossibly large black monolith at the center. Bright blue lines, alternately straight and curved, could be seen up and down the length of the monolith. It was surrounded by cables, which lead into computers and translucent screens at the edge of the monolith's setting.

After spending so much time with Cylons and their semi-organic computers, this hard black shape just felt _wrong_ to Kara.

Liara and Shepard moved forward without a second thought, but Williams seemed to be in the same kind of half-trance that Kara had been caught up in. "I'll never get used to that," Williams commented. "Just when you think you've seen it all…"

"You too, huh?" Kara asked. They traded grins.

"They're going to be absorbed in the terminals for a while," Williams said. "We should take the perimeter. We still haven't met this Dr. Coré, and I'm not willing to bet on her being gone already."

"Good idea," Kara agreed. They started off in opposite directions. Perimeter watch wasn't the most exciting way to pass the time, but Kara knew better than most how necessary it was.

But frak, the room was big! Kara wished for more people - she could easily see some secluded nooks that exploring would mean exposing her back. She'd have to content herself with a general watch.

"Shepard."

The voice was new, male, and Kara whirled to see a translucent image appearing off to Shepard's side. The level of detail on the image was astounding. If it weren't for the blue holographic shimmer, Kara could almost be convinced that the man was in the room with them.

"Illusive Man," Shepard said cooly. "How nice of you to call."

Kara started walking back towards Shepard, determined, and then she saw Williams, holding up a hand and shaking her head vigorously. Kara came to a halt and scowled at Williams before remembering what she had proposed to Shepard earlier - to take the Colonial and Cylon forces and hit Cerberus. If Kara was going to do that, it was best not to give their asshole leader any clue that someone other than Shepard was coming for them. Kara nodded to Williams and stayed where she was, listening. She kept herself from having any reaction when the Illusive Asshole started talking about his plans to control the race that was currently laying waste to Earth. _Earth._ It seemed just _wrong_ that he didn't have any reverence for its homeworld, given how much he thought of humans compared to the other races. That bigotry made him a _stupid_ asshole. Kara's only experience with aliens so far was Liara, but she didn't need any more convincing that Liara was a person and worth respecting. Liara was smart, friendly, loyal, and absolutely devastating in combat. _Careful, Starbuck,_ she thought to herself. _Someone might think you have a crush on her. Female and alien - not your type._

Then again, she kind of prided herself on not really _having_ a type.

_Not the time. Focus._

As soon as the connection was broken and Liara raised the alarm about the data being erased, Kara went back to scanning the area, Katana in hand. Then she saw it - a woman who strongly resembled the one they'd seen on the security cameras. "Hey!" Kara yelled, hating that it drew Dr. Coré's attention as much as it did her companions'. They didn't have time for a better option, though. Kara took off at a run, dropping the Katana and focusing only on getting to Dr. Coré before she could escape.

Gunfire whizzed past her head, and then Shepard's combat drone appeared and shocked Dr. Coré. The other woman staggered backwards, off-balance. Kara heard an electric hiss and crackle and felt something in the air prickling her skin as she leapt forward, tackling Dr. Coré to the ground.

Kara lifted her right hand to throw a punch, but the movement was blocked and Dr. Coré attempted to push Kara off. _Damn, she's strong!_ For a moment Kara flashed back to her fight against the Six on Caprica. The Cylon had been stronger and faster than Kara, and when Kara had thrown them both off of the edge, she honestly hadn't known if she would survive the fall.

There was no convenient pit to throw her enemy in here - but she did have backup. She just needed to keep Dr. Coré from getting away before Shepard, Williams, and Liara got there. Kara held onto Dr. Coré's arms tightly, not trying to land another punch, but to keep the other woman immobilized. Her grip slipped, just for an instant, and Dr. Coré punched Kara's face. Crying out in pain, Kara moved to fight back, propelling herself upward to bash their foreheads together.

That was a mistake. Kara's head rang with the force of the impact, somehow much greater than it should have been. She fell backwards, her head colliding with the floor, and blacked out.


	6. Chapter 6

_Happy N7 day, everybody!_

* * *

" … waking up?"

" … no idea she was that fast …"

" … has to be fine, or goodbye new allies…"

Kara groaned and opened her eyes. "Ow," she complained, trying to sit up.

"Easy there," Williams said, putting an arm around Kara's back. "You were out cold for a bit. Had us worried."

Kara sighed. "I've been through worse," she said.

"You really have lead an interesting life these past few years, haven't you?" Shepard asked. She squatted in front of Kara, then raised her left arm, already glowing with omni-tool orange. She pressed her hand to Kara's forehead.

"Holy shit," Kara gasped as she was engulfed in a cool fire, both numbing and warm at the same time. The sensation faded quickly, but - "Damn. What'd you do?" she asked. "My headache's gone."

"Medi-gel," Shepard said, almost smugly. "Apparently works for bizarro lost cousins as well as it does for us regular humans."

"Very funny," Kara replied. "You, a _regular_ human."

"She's got you there, Shepard," Williams said, laughing as she helped Kara to her feet.

Shepard smiled softly. "I owe you, Kara. I don't know how you did it, but you caught up to her before she could leave. I don't know if we could have stopped her otherwise."

"I was closest," Kara said, shrugging it off. "It's not like I was going to let her get away."

"And it's a good thing you did catch her," Liara said. "We need to know more about what Cerberus is planning. As soon as we get back, I'm going to ask my erstwhile colleague some very pointed questions."

Shepard nodded. "And we need to decide how we're going to handle your people, Kara. We need to get more of them on board the Normandy. Care to give me a short list?"

"Definitely," Kara said, and started naming people as they walked out of the Mars Archives to where Cortez was waiting with the shuttle.

* * *

Admiral William Adama stood behind the press podium, leaning forward on his elbows to gaze intently at the swarm of reporters in front of him. Their faces were all intent, eager, hanging on his every word.

"I will take questions," he said reluctantly.

Instantly the room erupted into a cacophony of shouts and waving hands. The reporters didn't wait for him to acknowledge any of them individually, just shouted over each other.

"How many alien races are there?"

"Can we get any advanced alien weaponry to use against the Cylons?"

"How can we travel faster than FTL? Isn't that, by definition, the fastest form there is?"

"Are these people truly the Thirteenth Tribe?"

"Why did we leave Earth?"

"Why did we leave Earth?"

"_Why did we leave Earth?"_

Buzz-click. Buzz-click.

Adama opened his eyes and stretched, trying to work out the soreness that came from having fallen asleep in his chair. His respite from new information and hard questions was over. He recalled Shepard's insistence that Lieutenant Vega only cover the basics - and that had still been an unfathomably large amount of information that left him with the questions the reporters in his dream had been asking. And it was, sadly, only a matter of time before he would have to field them - too many people had heard Shepard's declaration about Earth.

Buzz-click. "Fine, fine," Adama grumbled softly before lifting the handle. "Admiral here."

"Sir, Commander Shepard is calling for you," Dee said.

"Patch her through, Dee."

"Patching now." There was a brief pause, a click, and then Dee spoke again. "Commander Shepard, you have the Admiral."

"Admiral Adama," Shepard said. "Pleased to report that the mission was a success and we're on our way back to the Normandy. That includes Captain Thrace, by the way. She's a hell of a fighter."

Adama breathed out a sigh of relief and smiled. "That she is."

"We have a few hours before we get to the mass relay," Shepard continued, "so there's two things that need to happen before then. First, I need the mass of each ship in your fleet."

Adama's tired brain managed to make a small connection back to what Vega had said earlier. "For the relay."

"So you can follow us to the Citadel through the relay," Shepard agreed. "And that leads into the second thing, which is that I'd like a delegation from your fleet to come on board the Normandy to receive a comprehensive briefing. Kara mentioned a few names she thought you'd want in that delegation, including yourself, but the decision is yours."

"How much time do I have to decide?" Adama asked.

"Less than an hour. You should load up a small transport ship-"

"A Raptor," Kara interrupted. It startled Adama that he could hear her so clearly, and then he remembered that Shepard probably wasn't using a corded phone to make this call.

"One of those," Shepard agreed, "and head for the Normandy. Kara suggested that the President and Vice President come, as well as at least one Cylon."

It seemed that Kara had explained the Cylon situation while they were off doing … whatever it was that Shepard had needed to do. "You're asking for a lot from me," Adama said, unable to keep the heat from his voice. "You want the important people onboard your ship while we make a jump using unknown technology. How do we know this isn't a trap?"

"My word as a Spectre," Shepard began.

Adama cut her off. "Not good enough. I don't know you, so I can't just take your word. I need someone who can talk about your technology with more confidence than Lieutenant Vega." He could tell that it wasn't just orders that had kept Vega evasive on those matters.

Shepard sighed. "Admiral, the truth is I don't have anyone to give you. I could only spare Vega because you gave me Kara in his place. We left Earth in a hurry with only the crew who happened to be onboard at that moment. There isn't anyone that I can spare to ride herd on you during the jump."

"What if someone got a look at the Normandy's computers and then came back to the Galactica before the jump?" Kara asked. "Someone like Athena or Gaeta."

"Or both," Adama said, warming to the idea.

"That's cutting it pretty close, Admiral," Shepard said.

"Make it happen," Adama replied.

"Admiral. I don't take orders from you," Shepard said coldly, and Adama realized that he'd spoken to her like a subordinate. Careless of him. "I _believe_ that could work. I'm not sure how much they'll be able to learn in such a short period, but if that will get me your cooperation, I'll agree to it."

"Full access, Commander," Adama said, trying to keep his voice level.

"You'll have it," Shepard replied. "We'll rendezvous soon. Shepard out." The click indicated that she'd disconnected.

Adama resisted the urge to rub at his face as he replaced the phone in its cradle. It was too much, too fast. This should have been the end. They should have been able to stop at Earth, to settle there and make a new home. Instead... they had even more questions than they'd had before.

"Dad?"

Adama's head jerked up to see his son standing there. He was starting to get used to the sight of Lee in a suit instead of a uniform.

"Any news?" Lee asked, anxiety written all over him.

Adama knew what Lee was really asking. _How's Starbuck?_ "Shepard completed her mission. They're on their way back. That includes Kara." He took a deep breath to steady himself. "I could use your help with something."

"Anything," Lee said instantly.

Adama nodded, feeling as though a load had been lifted from his shoulders. "I'm leading a group to the Normandy. I want you and Laura as part of it. We'll also have Sharon and Gaeta as our tech experts. I need to have someone onboard Galactica when we jump that has at least a rudimentary understanding of these … relays."

"I think I see the problem," Lee said. "If you take Sharon, that means your XO is going to insist on coming along. Which leaves you with one obvious option for someone to command the Galactica ... and he's not really the obvious option anymore." Lee leaned against the desk. "What about Dee?"

"Dee?" Adama repeated. "Your wife who's not speaking to you?"

Lee grimaced. "She _was_ my XO on Pegasus, Dad. She's still loyal to you and to this fleet. She's a damn good officer and keeps her head in a crisis."

"Enough," Adama said, laughing softly. "You've convinced me. Lieutenant Dualla will be in charge in my absence. Although I think Lieutenant may be an inadequate rank for that."

"So promote her," Lee said with a shrug. "It should have happened already."

"Are you doing this so she'll come back to you?" Adama asked wryly.

Lee shook his head. "No. If I wanted that, I'd be doing more than just telling you to promote her."

Adama wasn't entirely convinced, but he let it go and picked up the phone. "Dee. I want you, Lieutenant Gaeta, Helo, and Athena to come to my office."

"Be right there, sir," Dee said.

"Good. Admiral out." Adama hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair.

"I take it that means I'll brief the President," Lee said. "Anyone else?"

Adama shook his head. "Shepard asked us to bring a Cylon. Obviously, Kara told her about them. We've already agreed that Sharon's coming."

"Makes sense." Lee paused, clearly thinking through an idea. Adama felt himself warm with pride at this sign of Lee's maturity. "There's one more person that should come," his son said after a moment. "The Chief."

"Out of the question," Adama said. "He's a Cylon. One of their 'Final Five'. We still don't know enough about them."

"But one of the things we do know is their connection to Earth," Lee said. "Not to mention that Tyrol's the best expert we have on ship design and maintenance. I have no idea how the Normandy can generate the level of power it does, but if anyone can start answering that question, it's him." He hesitated. "Besides, if you're uncertain about the Final Five - it may be better to get him away from the Galactica. From the other Cylons."

'Uncertain' didn't really cover what he felt about the Final Five. Despair, hatred, mistrust, anger - those were far more accurate. There had been so much they had endured along the way, so much suffering and loss, and he had taken a heavy part of that because he was their leader and it was his responsibility. And Saul… had been there for him. Saul was the only one who had always supported him, always backed his move, even if it turned out to be the wrong one.

Saul was a Cylon. Cylons couldn't be trusted … until they could.

Adama shoved his conflict over Saul away and thought about what Lee had said, striving to be impartial. What he had said about the Chief made sense. There was no questioning Tyrol's expertise when it came to the design and construction of ships. The destroyed Blackbird was proof enough of that. And it was true that Tyrol, Saul, and Anders had been instrumental in getting them here, to Commander Shepard and Earth, in the first place.

The door opened, and the four people that Adama had called for entered. _Back to work,_ Adama thought, and began to explain the situation to four of his best officers.

* * *

The delegation left _Galactica_ onboard two Raptors. When asked to pilot one of them, Lee had grumbled good-naturedly about how he wasn't actually in the military anymore, but _somehow_ kept finding himself called upon to perform military duties. Adama sat next to Laura at the back of the Raptor, and Vega sat up front next to Lee, asking questions and trying to figure out the controls. He'd been convinced Shepard wanted him to return, even though she hadn't said anything along those lines to Adama. Since Vega was outside of Adama's command, he decided it wasn't worth trying to argue.

Helo and Athena were piloting the other Raptor, with Felix and Tyrol as their passengers. The Chief (Adama couldn't think of him as anything else, despite the demotion) had volunteered to come along when the question was put to him, and Adama had decided to follow his son's advice.

Maybe, Adama thought, he shouldn't have brought his best people with him for this. But Shepard was offering them a chance at joining a greater community, of finding a new home with these far-flung cousins. If that was the case, they all needed to be in on it from the start. It was a chance he had to take.

"There she is," Vega said. "The Normandy."

Adama tore his thoughts away from what he'd left on Galactica and looked out the Raptor's window at the ship they were approaching. Up close, she was even more of a marvel to behold - a sleek and graceful predator amongst the stars. She was smaller than Galactica and many of the other ships in the Colonial Fleet. Vega had said that she was a prototype frigate, the only one of her kind - designed for stealth and speed, which inevitably put him in mind of the destroyed Blackbird. That had been a beautiful ship, as beautiful as the woman it was named for.

"What's the significance of the name?" Adama asked.

"Frigates are named for the sites of important battles," Vega replied. "Normandy was one of the biggest."

Adama itched to know more, but nodded instead and returned his gaze to the rapidly approaching ship. The silence was only broken when Lee announced, "Ready to disembark."

"Copy," Adama said, even though they were in person and a nod would have done the trick. He turned to Laura Roslin and offered her his arm. "Shall we?"

Laura smiled back at him and took his arm. "Let's meet the new neighbors."

Adama led them out, walking slowly so that he could take in the sights. The ship looked practically new, to eyes that had been living on increasingly run-down ships since the flight from Caprica. The walls were pristine and shining, the equipment neatly tucked away in functional spaces. The flight deck was smaller than the Galactica, but the Normandy was also a smaller ship that had no need to field a squad of fighters. He saw Shepard and Williams standing nearby, in what were presumably dress uniforms, with Kara next to them. All three women looked battered and bruised. Kara even had a spectacular black eye forming on her left side. Behind the three women were more people in military uniforms, watching the Colonials intently.

"Admiral Adama," Shepard said, stepping forward. "Welcome aboard the Normandy."

"Thank you, Commander," Adama replied. "You've already met the President and Vice President." He turned and saw the other Raptor pulling up, making the cargo hold seem slightly crowded. The door opened and the other members of the Galactica's delegation exited. "Allow me to introduce Lieutenant Sharon Agathon, Lieutenant Felix Gaeta, and Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol. And you remember my XO, Captain Karl Agathon."

Shepard's eyes passed over each of them in turn, and she nodded. "Welcome. If you'll follow me, I'll try to explain the situation a bit more. I'm afraid I did tell Lieutenant Vega to omit certain pieces of information."

Vega grinned and walked over to what looked like a weapons locker as Adama and the others fell in behind Shepard. They walked into an elevator, and then exited into what looked like the Normandy's CIC. Here, as in the shuttle bay, the scene was one of crisp newness. A large hologram rose from the floor in the center of the room, with a dark skinned woman in a military uniform working on a computer nearby. Other crew members stopped to look at the Colonials as they passed.

Shepard paused in front of a door with a glowing green symbol in the middle, and to Adama's surprise, the door opened at her touch, the sides sliding into the floor and ceiling. They passed through another, similar door, into a room where cords ran across the floor and a smaller alcove contained a small wooden table that was hollow in the center. Williams, Adama noticed, took up a position by the door they'd entered through. Shepard's left arm started glowing a bright orange, which set everyone except Kara murmuring. A moment later, the hollow center displayed the same symbol that was on the exterior of Shepard's shuttle. Another hologram, then.

The image morphed into what looked like a star map. All of the Colonials edged in closer for a look. Shepard touched a part of the hologram, enlarging it, until the image of a planet appeared and began to rotate slowly. There were clear landmasses - continents, presumably - set against a wide backdrop of blue ocean. "This is Earth," she said quietly. "Thought you might like to see that first."

Everyone, including Kara, leaned in that much closer to drink in the sight. The picture was clearly on the global scale, so population centers weren't immediately obvious. But Adama could make out seas and rivers, mountain ranges and plateaus. He counted two large continents and several island chains off the eastern coast of the larger continent, one of which was noticeably larger than the others, and wondered how they were split politically.

Shepard gave them a few minutes to stare in wonder before closing out the hologram and leaning back against the wall. "I asked Vega not to say anything about the galactic situation because, as competent as he is, he hasn't been at the forefront of galactic politics like I have. I know he explained what a Spectre is, so I won't go through that again. As the first human to be awarded that title, I've seen and done a good deal more than most people you'll meet. I'm going to try and give you an overview of the different species in the galaxy - because chances are, you'll run into them sooner or later. In fact, one of them is aboard right now, and I sincerely hope she'll forgive me for parading her out like a museum piece."

"You're forgiven, Shepard," came a soft female voice from behind them. A _blue_ woman moved forward, giving a friendly nod to Kara as she took a place besides Shepard.

"This is Dr. Liara T'Soni, a member of the asari race," Shepard said. "And a very good friend."

"Also, she can kill you with her brain," Kara said. Lee choked on a laugh.

Shepard smiled. "Actually, Kara's right. It's called biotics, and I can explain it later. Asari are one of the three Council races. Four, now - humans received a seat on the Council after the attack on the Citadel. Did Vega cover that?"

"He did," Lee replied.

"Good. I won't go over it again. The asari are all female, and have lifespans of over 1000 years. So they tend to take the long view of things. They all have biotic ability, though some are more talented than others." Shepard flashed a grin at T'Soni. "Liara's one of the best I've ever met."

"Flatterer," T'Soni said, laughing lightly. She was _startlingly_ beautiful, despite the oddity of her skin and the tentacles that she had in place of hair. Adama looked over at Laura to distract himself, and caught her smiling at him, as if she knew what was on his mind.

"How old are you?" Kara asked.

"One hundred and eight," T'Soni replied serenely, much to everyone's shock.

Shepard tapped at her glowing orange arm, explaining its function briefly (and setting Gaeta and Tyrol to murmuring to one another speculatively) and the hologram image shifted into a picture of Shepard and an alien, on what looked like a _beach_. The alien had reptilian green skin with two horns poking out from the top of its head.

"That's a salarian," Shepard said. "Captain Kirrahe, of the Special Tasks Group. They were the model for the Spectres and are the front line of the salarian military." She paused. "Front and back, in some ways. The salarians prefer to win wars before they start, with infiltration, sabotage, black bag jobs - that sort of thing. They have a short lifespan - about fifty years - and their gender ratio is heavily skewed towards the males. Only one out of every ten salarians is female, and as such they all hold positions of relative power, and few of them ever get off of Sur'Kesh - the salarian homeworld."

Adama was peering closer to make out the details of this new alien. He was slightly shorter than Shepard, in armor, with the upper part of his chest slightly extended out.

"Salarians tend to be very intense about what they do, so telling one that he's done a good job is the quickest way to make friends," Shepard said. She let the image linger a few moments longer before tapping her arm again, pausing, and giving a few more taps.

The image that came up contained an asari and a - what was it? A salarian - as well as that of a third alien, presumably the last of the 'Council races'. The third alien was taller than the asari and its (his?) skin looked hard, more like plate. The dark plate had white markings on top of it, in what looked to be some sort of pattern. He had mandibles on either side of his face, and slim, arching spikes extending from the back of his head. Like the salarian, the top of his chest stuck out from the rest of his body, except it was more pronounced with this alien.

"This is Sparatus, the turian councilor," Shepard said, "with his salarian and asari counterparts - Valern and Tevos."

Adama started to wonder why Shepard hadn't just started with this photo, then realized that a living asari was a better example than a photo, and in talking about Captain Kirrahe she had given them an idea of the salarian race as a whole. Presumably, she was about to mention what the turians were like as well.

"The turians, as Lieutenant Vega might have mentioned, were the first race that humanity made contact with," Shepard said. "That was twenty nine years ago. Turians are very regimented and hierarchical, though it is possible to be move up the ranks based on performance. They make up the bulk of Citadel Security - C-Sec for short. Service in the military is compulsory and starts at 15." Once again she let the image linger before changing it.

Shepard brought up another image of herself next to an alien. This one was much larger than she, broad-chested and muscular, another lizard-like creature - though much more physically intimidating than the salarian. Its skin was a pale peach-yellow, transitioning abruptly to bright red where hair would have been on a human, the eyes the same bright red color. It had a wide mouth, forming a V on the face, with multiple scars running from the top of its head towards the neck.

"Shepard," T'Soni said, shaking her head, "why did you have to use Wrex as an example?"

"So that they'll know how ugly and mean krogan are," Shepard said, grinning at the blue woman. "This is Urdnot Wrex, Warlord of clan Urdnot, one of the meanest sons of bitches I've ever fought besides. He's currently doing his best to unite the squabbling krogan clans on their shithole of a homeworld."

"It really is a shithole," Williams put in from the door. "It's just _their_ shithole."

"Krogan lifespans are in about the same range as asari," Shepard said. "Wrex is nearly a thousand years old."

"And … he's a friend of yours?" Gaeta asked tentatively.

"Wrex is all right, for a krogan," T'Soni said. "He really is doing some good on Tuchanka. Though not everyone thinks so."

"The krogan don't have the best reputation in the galaxy," Shepard said. "Couple hundred years back, they started rampaging across turian colony worlds. They were only stopped when the salarians unleashed a genophage that devastated the population. Made it so that only one out of every one thousand krogan pregnancies came to term." She shook her head. "It's a sad situation. I'll explain a bit more later."

Adama found himself pondering that sad situation while Shepard continued to explain about the other races - the hanar and volus, races that needed assistance to operate in a human environment, the hanar's client race the drell (another lizard-like race), the large and slow elcor, and the hostile four-eyed batarians.. It seemed as though the krogan were dying a slow death, not unlike what might have happened to the Colonials if they had not (as Laura had famously said) begun making babies. He acknowledged that the fear of letting his people be wiped out was part of why he was going along with Shepard's plans - she was dangling a chance in front of them, a chance to _live_ and perhaps even thrive. How many people in the Fleet would welcome the chance to disappear into the background of a larger civilization? How many of them just wanted to live a normal, stable life once more without caring about losing their culture and identity along the way?

"And last, but certainly not least, the quarians," Shepard said. Adama shook his head at the pointed tone in her voice, and noticed Kara standing up slightly straighter and paying attention. Both were indications that whatever Shepard was about to say was more important than what had come before.

Shepard took a deep breath before she continued. "About three hundred years ago, on their homeworld of Rannoch, the quarian people built synthetics - machines, robots, what have you - to make life easier. They called these machines the geth. When the geth became sentient, and began asking questions the quarians didn't want to answer, fighting broke out." Each of the Colonials stiffened at the obvious parallel. Adama understood Kara's reaction now. "Eventually, the quarians were driven off-planet. They live on ships, now - wandering the stars, without a home."

"For three hundred years?" Laura asked, aghast.

"Closer to two hundred and fifty, not that it makes a large difference," Shepard replied. "Their society revolves around their ships and keeping the population alive. Quarians are another race that go around in pressure suits-" she paused to tap her arm and bring up another image. The figure looked very human, short and slim, with a mask covering up any facial details. Adama noticed that the hand only had three fingers, and the other main difference was in the bowing of the legs.

"Their immune systems have been weakened after years of living on ships," Shepard said. Adama felt his stomach lurch as he contemplated that future for his people - another way in which they might die a slow death rather than a violent one at the hands of the Cylons. He had never thought about what would happen if they couldn't find anywhere to go, being too concerned with simply staying ahead of their enemies. He was certainly thinking about it now. "They need a whole host of drugs to try and interact with the world outside their suits, and even then they're likely to be sick at first while their bodies adapt."

"How many quarians are there?" Karl asked, speaking for the first time since coming onboard. They had all been far quieter than usual, actually, Adama realized. Perhaps this was just all too much to deal with at once.

"Seventeen million," Shepard replied.

"That's a lot," Laura said, startled. Adama guessed she had been expecting something more like the Colonial Fleet.

"That's not that much," Shepard corrected. "That's not far off from the population of the Citadel. Mind, there are several species that add to that count, but still." She changed the image again, to a figure that somewhat resembled a Cylon Centurion. It looked less menacing than the Centurion, smaller and skinnier, and the head resembled the end of a flashlight.

"That's a garden variety geth," Shepard said, then switched the image to a larger Cylon - _geth, _he reminded himself, fighting back the instinctive urge to label all humanoid machines as some variety of Cylon - that looked more intimidating. Taller, though without any kind of scale it was harder to tell, with thick limbs. The flashlight was replaced by something that looked almost like a face without a nose, two dots for the eyes and one for the mouth. "And that is a Prime. Geth get smarter the more of them you face - they network with one another. Having said that, there's currently a split in the geth. Some of them sided with Saren, as Vega told you. But most of them are keeping to themselves, trying to build their own future."

She switched off the image and crossed her arms across her chest. "So that's the current galactic situation. I expect that things are going to change quite a bit in the near future. The Normandy is on its way to the Citadel to beg help for Earth from the Council, but there's no guarantee that we'll get it.

"And with all that in mind, I think it's time to start discussing how you and your people fit in."


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: I want to thank everyone for the reviews they've left, especially the ones highlighting some factual errors I've made. I appreciate your willingness to take time to write that up, and I also appreciate your willingness to keep reading despite my errors :) Particular thanks go to the anonymous reviewer who corrected some of my careless interpretations of mass effect technology. I've used some of your concise summary in this chapter._

_As always, thanks to my betas: Grenade, Craggidor, and Yoru._

* * *

Admiral William Adama looked at Artemis Shepard as she leaned against the wall, and saw the same scrutiny in her eyes. When she looked at them, what did she truly see? How much of what she'd heard did she actually believe?

Shepard cleared her throat, breaking the impromptu staring contest. "To be perfectly honest, your best bet is to throw in with the Systems Alliance. Your forty thousand is a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of humanity, but you and your people have been through fire recently. You've got the skills and reflexes that we're going to need to fight the Reapers. I know from experience that I need all the help I can get."

Adama wasn't surprised that Shepard's idea echoed the thoughts he had been having. It was the easy solution, in many ways. "While that may seem the best solution to you," he said, "it means that we risk losing our identity as a people. Becoming a footnote to this Systems Alliance. We have come too far, fought too hard to have that happen. We have the right to choose our own future."

A wry smile crossed Shepard's face, as though Adama had made some kind of joke. Then her face returned to neutral. "I'm not asking you to do that, Admiral. To be frank, I'm going to be the one leading the charge against the Reapers because of everything I've done and seen in the past two years. If we survive - and that's a big if - I'll have enough clout to demand just about anything. A planet, for example, or at the very least a continent - a space for your people to settle and rebuild."

"That's quite a promise for one woman to make," Laura said. "As the Admiral said, we've come a long way in pursuit of our own destiny. I'm not sure that we can give that up now. Not for any price."

Shepard turned to look at Laura before shaking her head softly. "Destiny… that's one of those things I never put much stock in. I'm not a religious person. I tend to trust myself, my instincts, and the people around me. But you could look at it this way. You jumped to Earth just as I was leaving it. Any later and you'd have been simply Reaper fodder. You crossed paths with the one person in the Systems Alliance who has the clout and the will to try and help you. Perhaps your destiny was to find me."

The words were chilling ones. Adama still wasn't that fond of the idea of giving up everything they had fought for in trade for 'some continent somewhere', but it was hard to deny what Shepard was saying. He let the silence sit for a few minutes before saying, "It's something to consider."

"And what about the Cylons?" Athena asked suddenly. All eyes, including Shepard's, turned to look at her. Adama thought he saw a brief expression of fear on Athena's face, but then it was gone - perhaps he'd imagined it.

Shepard thought for a moment, and then lifted her head and looked at the ceiling. "EDI?"

"Yes, Shepard?"

The voice that emerged from the speakers was a disturbingly familiar one. Everyone in the Colonial delegation except for Kara jumped. "That's a _Six_," Athena said.

"I am not," the voice said. "It is an intriguing coincidence that my voice sounds similar to one of your fellow Cylons, Lieutenant Agathon. Further evidence that your people are connected with Shepard's."

"That's your answer," Shepard said with a nod. "EDI is an AI. An _illegal_ AI. I'll have to deal with the consequences of that at some point. For now, I hope that EDI will serve as your guarantee that I will not act against the Cylons, or permit them to be acted against. You're my allies. All of you." She stepped forward and drummed her fingers against the table the holograms had emerged from. "Which means that you shouldn't go to the Citadel with us. An unknown starship that can easily be mistaken for a Reaper?" She shook her head. "It's exactly the sort of thing I'd like to prevent."

"So what will you do?" Karl asked.

"I'll need someplace to send Galactica and the - basestar?" Shepard paused and waited for their nods before continuing. "I think the Fifth Fleet is our best option. Which means I need to let Hackett know you're coming."

"Admiral Steven Hackett, one of the highest ranking members of the Systems Alliance Navy," Williams added. "Probably the closest damn thing we have to a commander-in-chief right now, with Arcturus Station having been hit by the Reapers." She looked at Shepard. "He's also believed Shepard from the start, and he's giving her full backing."

"He reached out to me for assistance, which should mean that he will accept your aid," T'Soni said.

Adama looked at the others. "It isn't my decision alone," he said.

"What about the civilians?" Laura asked. "What do you propose to do with them?"

"They'll blend in with the other refugees easily enough," Shepard replied. "I don't know what conditions are like there, but they'll have to be some provisions."

T'Soni stepped forward. "I can find a suitable planet for the civilians to be from. If you think that they will accept the deception."

Adama considered the idea, looking around at the others to see if he could read anything from their expressions. Finally he shook his head. "Too risky. That's too many people that would have to know and maintain a lie. Our ships are self-contained; they won't be a drain on the supplies of your fleet." Although he wouldn't turn down an offer of extra supplies if it was offered.

Shepard sighed. "I can't really argue with that assessment. The goal _is_ to keep you all under wraps, after all." She nodded decisively. "All right. Everyone heads to the Fifth Fleet except the people onboard."

"And afterwards?" Adama asked. "My people won't serve under a foreign military authority."

"I wouldn't expect them to," Shepard said. "I'm sending you there because it's the best place for you to use as your base. Hackett won't try to put you under his command. I trust him." She flashed an impish grin at him, reminding him of Starbuck for a moment. "Besides, you're self-sufficient enough that you can just jump away again if things get bad."

Adama exchanged a glance with Laura. "I'm actually not sure we can," Adama said after a long moment. "Commander Shepard, I know that Kara told you some of what we've been through. The people of our Fleet have placed a great deal of importance on Earth and the Thirteenth Tribe. Leaving Earth temporarily is going to be a hard enough sell."

Shepard looked over at Kara, then back to Adama. "I'll help if I can, but I don't immediately see how," she said. "Aside from giving you a - an _opportunity_ to do something to contribute to this war. Something that it's unlikely anyone else would be able to do."

"I'm listening," Adama said.

"There's a pro-human organization - "

"Terrorist organization," Williams interrupted. She and Shepard exchanged a strained glance for a moment, then Williams shook her head and looked away.

"Pro-human terrorist organization," Shepard said regretfully. "They're called Cerberus. In the interest of honesty and cooperation, I'll tell you that I did work with them for a time." She paused. "After they brought me back to life. So you can see why I owed them," she said over the startled exclamations of the Colonials. "I was brought back for a mission. I completed that mission. After that, we parted ways. Cerberus' leader accepted that."

"And the Alliance reinstated her," Williams said. "_They _believe that she's done with them."

"That's … rather a lot to take in," Adama said after a long moment of silence.

"On top of everything else we've been asked to take in," Lee added quietly.

Shepard grimaced. "Unavoidable, I'm afraid. I'm sure you're as tired of hearing promises as I am of making them to you. It's all I can give you, though. I'm hopeful that after we reach the Citadel I can find someone to give you as a liaison. Someone you can ask questions of at your leisure."

Adama wondered how she would find such a person and convince them to become a glorified encyclopedia. That was her problem, though. "So. This … Cerberus."

"Yes." Shepard drew herself up a little straighter. "Their leader, the Illusive Man - and yes, that's the only name I have for him - is trying to find a way to control the Reapers."

"Control them," Adama said. "Is that possible?"

"Even if it is, it's a complete waste of time," T'Soni said, shaking her head. "The only thing we can do is fight back. On Mars, I discovered plans for a device that might be able to wipe out the Reapers. We're going to convince the Council to throw its resources behind that plan."

Williams snorted. "We can try, at least."

"Not to mention that the Illusive Man's ultimate goal is to elevate the human race above others," Shepard said. "It all adds up to him, and Cerberus, being a distraction when we can least afford one."

"Shep - Commander Shepard suggested that we can hit them, sir," Kara said. "They don't know anything about us. Not to mention that we've gotten good at hit-and-run ambushes."

Adama raised an eyebrow at Kara's slip. She had gotten cozy with Shepard and the others on Mars, it seemed. Starbuck wasn't exactly known for making new friends easily. Then again, Starbuck did appreciate people with a flair for destruction - which it seemed Commander Artemis Shepard possessed.

"So you propose to have us hunt down the Cerberus forces and prevent them from … gaining control over the Reapers?" Adama said.

Shepard pursed her lips. "The Illusive Man is going to be tracking information on the Reapers. If you track _him_, then we can get to the information before he does. We learn more about the Reapers, and we stop Cerberus from destroying a chance for galactic peace."

"That sounds a fairly vague plan, Commander," Laura said.

"Yeah, well, given a week and a full analysis of your military capabilities, I could come up with a better one," Shepard replied with a sigh. "But that's about the best I can offer on the fly. Maybe Hackett will have a better idea when you get to Fifth Fleet."

"You're not coming with us?" Lee asked.

Shepard opened her mouth, then closed it, and exchanged glances with Williams and T'Soni. "We should inform the Council as soon as possible," T'Soni said hesitantly.

"But a detour to the Fifth Fleet won't take that long." Williams looked to be warming up to the idea. "I suspect Hackett is going to want to hear from us in person anyways."

"Okay, we go with you to Fifth Fleet," Shepard said, nodding decisively at Adama.

"Don't forget that Lieutenants Agathon and Gaeta will need to view your systems before heading back to the Galactica," Adama said, making an effort to keep his voice even. He needed to remember that Shepard was outside of his chain of command.

"Of course," Shepard replied. "I'll have Specialist Traynor give them the overview. She was part of the Normandy's retrofitting crew and knows how things are put together here. I assume they'll be taking one of your shuttles back to Galactica?"

Karl nodded. "Sharon and I can pilot it." He looked at Adama. "It'll make things a bit crowded when you head back to to Galactica."

"Actually - I'd like to propose that not all of you head back to Galactica after we get to Fifth Fleet," Shepard said. "Specifically - I'd like to offer you, Captain Thrace, a spot on my combat team."

Kara looked startled, turning her gaze over to Adama. He could tell that she was asking for his opinion - or his permission, perhaps? He didn't know how much Kara had said about _her_ role in getting them here - that Kara was the one person who knew the most about Earth. He had approved her going once, and he wasn't about to take that permission back. Still, it warmed his heart to have her looking to him like that. "The choice is yours, Kara," he said quietly.

With a grateful nod, Kara turned her gaze back to Shepard. "If it means I'll get a shot at flying one of your fancy Alliance planes, I'm in."

"You might be able to convince Cortez to let you have a shot at the Kodiak," Shepard said, returning the grin. "As for the fighters - I might be able to pull some strings." She extended a hand, and Kara shook it firmly. "Welcome to the Normandy. When we're done here, Ashley can help get you squared away with some space." She turned and looked back at Laura. "I'd like a representative from the civilian side as well - someone authorized to make decisions for your civilians in case something comes up unexpectedly. Madam President, I understand from Kara that you're in ill health. If you stayed, I could try to pull some strings and get you seen by the doctors on the Citadel -"

"No, thank you," Laura said, shaking her head. Adama felt proud of her for that. "There is far too much to be done for me to waste time in a hospital. My place is on the fleet."

Shepard turned her gaze to Lee, and raised a critical eyebrow. "Should I take that to mean that you're staying, Mr. Vice President?"

Unlike Kara, Lee didn't look to Adama for approval. Or Laura. He did, however, look over at Kara once before speaking. "Yes, Commander. I'll stay and represent the civilian interests."

"You're the best one for the job," Adama said, his voice catching in the middle of that sentence. If anyone noticed, they didn't comment on it.

"Commander," a male voice said over the loudspeakers.

Shepard looked up. "What is it, Joker?"

"EDI's got Admiral Hackett for you."

"That's good news, Joker," Shepard replied. "I'll be right there."

"Roger that."

Shepard returned her attention to the Colonials. "I need to go speak with Admiral Hackett immediately so that we can get to wherever he is at the moment."

"Perhaps I should come with you," Adama said.

Shepard sighed. "No, Admiral. I expect there will be time for you to speak with Admiral Hackett at length later. Right now, time is of the essence and it's best if we keep things simple."

"I understand, Commander," Adama said after a moment. He realized a minute later that the unthinking platitude was actually the truth.

Shepard nodded, seeming to relax a bit. "Ash, Liara, would you mind sticking around with the Galactica crew for a bit?" She cast a glance at Adama and gave him a wry smile before he could open his mouth. "Everyone except for those getting the full tour."

"Of course, Shepard," Liara said. "We can take them to the observation lounge."

"Good. Let's get moving," Shepard said, and turned for the door.

* * *

Athena took one last look at the hologram projector in the middle of the pristine room before she followed her husband and the others out. She honestly didn't know how much she was going to learn in the short time she had, but the Old Man had insisted, and this Shepard had agreed. She had to admit that she was looking forward to getting the chance to look at this new technology. Technology of the Thirteenth Tribe.

_Not only the Thirteenth tribe, _she reminded herself. Lieutenant Vega had explained that the Normandy had been jointly designed by humans and turians. It made her wonder what parts of the ship were of turian design. Nothing seemed that obvious to her on first glance, but she wasn't an expert on ships like the Chief.

Athena glanced at him and felt the same soft nostalgic love she usually did. She remembered being Boomer, being with the Chief. But she had fallen in love with Helo - _her,_ as a person, the first time that she had ever felt like an individual instead of just another Eight.

An unfamiliar voice jolted her thoughts back to the present. "I'm Specialist Traynor," the woman they had passed earlier at a duty station said. Her accent was smooth and cultured, reminiscent of Caprica's upper crust. "It's a - real pleasure to meet all of you. Uh, which ones of you are coming with me?"

"We are," Athena said, stepping forward a half-second ahead of Helo and Gaeta.

"Good. Good." Traynor cast one final look at Shepard before she headed for the elevator, with the three of them following close behind. Roslin, Adama, Apollo, Starbuck, and the Chief stayed off to the side with Williams and T'Soni.

"So, we're leaving Deck Two," Traynor said after the elevator doors closed behind them. "Shuttle bay is on Deck Five, where you came in, and we're heading to Engineering on Deck Four. Deck Three is the Crew's Quarters, and Deck One is the Captain's Cabin. It's … it's not a very big deck," she added hastily. "Just above the CIC, and smaller. You saw the outline of the ship as you flew up, right?"

Athena thought she knew which part Traynor was talking about and nodded.

Traynor's answering smile was still somewhat nervous, but she seemed more confident than she had a moment before. "So … you're really from outside the Milky Way?"

"About as unbelievable to you as the fact that you're from Earth is to us," Gaeta said, leaning heavily on his crutch.

"Oh, I was born on Horizon, one of the colonies, although my parents were from London," Traynor said. "Um. Capital city of the United Kingdom, one of the oldest countries on Earth. Also known as Great Britain…" she paused. "Going into all of that would take a lot more time than you have, and you're probably not interested." She finished with a nervous laugh.

"Trust me, it sounds very interesting," Helo said. "We've all been deathly curious about the Thirteenth Tribe for so long. Every little scrap of detail is going to filter back to our people and get discussed."

Traynor shook her head as the elevator doors opened and she gestured them forward. "That's so weird," she said. "That your people have legends about us." She drew herself up straighter as she walked out onto the deck and turned left, looking back over her shoulder to make sure they were following. "Anyway, as I said, more time for that later. Hopefully."

Two more left turns took them through two more doors that slid open at their approach, and then they were in what was quite obviously the engine room. Gaeta's crutch clicked against the metal floor, providing the only sound other than the hum of the engine. Athena took a moment to drink in the sight - a giant round structure that glowed with blue-white energy. She couldn't see how it would even work.

Athena shook her head, reminding herself that it obviously _did_ work, or this ship wouldn't be functioning. How was she supposed to absorb all of this before they had to go back to Galactica? Shepard kept emphasizing the lack of time. She had thought that - being a Cylon - she might have a better chance of understanding the new technology better than the others.

Well, that might still be true - but the technology was a lot more _new_ than she had been expecting.

"Traynor? What's all this?" A man in the same uniform as Traynor's walked over, puzzlement written all over his face.

"Lieutenant Adams!" Traynor said brightly. "Did you hear about the Commander's new allies?"

Adams' eyes went wide as he took a second look at the three of them. "They look normal," he said. A second later, his cheeks flushed red. "Sorry. That was incredibly rude. I thought I'd broken that habit."

"That's all right," Helo replied with a wry smile. "I'm used to being gawked at." He looked over at Athena, his expression softening, and she reached for his hand. It had been a rough road, but she was so _happy_ now. She had her husband and her child, a place on the Galactica with her friends who were more like her family.

"Anyway, these are the three that are getting a look at the drive core and a short lecture on mass effect fields," Traynor said. "Enough for them to avoid _completely_ flying blind during the relay transit."

Adams nodded. "Suppose that makes sense. Well… I hope you've got good pilots. That's the most important part of using a mass relay. Hitting that sweet spot that allows the relay to just whip you along to the destination, instead of shearing you in half."

The three Colonials exchanged nervous glances at that. "We don't have _a_ pilot," Gaeta said. "The ship's too big for only one person to control. Navigation is done by DRADIS sensors. The CO or XO monitors the situation and gives commands."

"Bigger ships use the relays all the time," Traynor said. "I'm sure it's feasible."

"They probably know what they're looking for," Helo countered, still looking nervous.

"Look, the first human ships used a relay right after they'd found it, with no understanding of the physics involved," Adams said. "Scuttlebutt says that you've been through some real shit in the past few years. I'm sure that's made everyone involved very good at flying their ships. They just have to know what to look out for." He looked over his shoulder. "EDI, can you give them that data?"

"Certainly, Lieutenant Adams," the AI that sounded like a Six said. Athena shivered. She would _never_ get used to that. The AI's voice was far flatter than any Six's had ever been, without the emotion or intonation that the tall, usually blonde Cylons always put behind their words. Every Six that Athena had ever known was passionate in some way - whether it was desire or anger, it didn't matter. They always had opinions and were unafraid to voice them.

This AI seemed more passive, not speaking unless spoken to. The way a Hybrid would be, if it wasn't for the constant senseless monologues that took up the rest of their time.

"I must clarify something," the AI said. "I am fully willing and able to give you the data. However, I am not sure what method I could use to transmit it to you. You made contact on a broad-band radio channel that transmits audio. From what scans I performed of your vessels, the only one that can accept the data directly is the Cylon basestar."

"Wait a second," Traynor cut in. "That's … _way_ too sophisticated for a VI."

"I apologize for the deception, Specialist Traynor. Shepard and Joker requested that I be a simple VI during our time in Alliance drydock."

"Oh, I knew it!" Traynor whirled around, pacing angrily. "I _knew_ you weren't just a VI." Her cheeks flushed hot with embarrassment, then she shook herself and made a visible effort to regain composure.

"And you, Engineer Adams?" the AI asked, a hint of curiosity in her voice.

Adams shrugged. "I had some pretty strong suspicions. You were too quick to respond for a VI."

"So," Helo said forcefully, steering the conversation back on topic, "the Cylons will be able to tell where to aim on the mass relay, but the others will just have to _guess_."

"It's not that hard," Adams insisted.

"The Admiral isn't going to like that level of uncertainty," Gaeta said. He cast an uncertain look at Adams and Traynor. "Is there anything else you can give us that might help?"

Athena looked back at the bright glowing ball of a drive core, turning an idea over in her head. "The Cylons," she said. "EDI. You think you can pass that information to the basestar?"

"I can do that now, if you wish."

"They won't know it's coming." There was an idea forming in Athena's head, but she needed a few more minutes to figure it out.

"If Engineer Adams or Specialist Traynor will give permission, I can set up a link between the basestar and one of their omni-tools," EDI said.

Adams lifted his left arm, tapping something invisible to activate the glowing orange interface that Athena had seen Shepard use earlier. "Go ahead."

"Connecting." A momentary pause. "The connection is live."

Athena exchanged a quick glance with Helo and Gaeta before stepping closer to Adams. "This is Athena. I'm onboard the Normandy."

"Athena?" Another Eight's voice. "What's going on?"

"I'm receiving a bit more information about what will needed to navigate the mass relays," Athena said. "Stand by to receive a transmission."

"Wait, that sounded … exactly like her," Traynor said, looking at Helo and Gaeta. "What's going on?"

"You must have missed the part where there are many copies of each Cylon," Helo said wryly.

Traynor looked at her with wide-eyed astonishment, and then back over at Helo. "How do you _stand_ that?"

"Some people don't," Gaeta replied.

"You get used to it," Helo countered. Athena heard the defensive tone in his voice and wondered if there would ever be a time where he didn't feel like he had to protect her.

"Got it. What am I looking at?" the Eight on the basestar asked.

"Sensor data about the spot the ships will need to aim for when traversing the mass relays," Athena said. "Can the Hybrid make sense of it? Can she use it?"

There was a long pause on the other end of the open channel, and then a different voice spoke - a Six. "Yes. She says that's exactly what she needs. Although how she knew what she needed is beyond me."

"I'll be damned_,_" Adams exclaimed softly. "That really _does_ sound like EDI."

Athena ignored him, focused on the problem and the solution that had finally come together for her. "Do we have enough Heavy Raiders and pilots to escort the ships of the Fleet through the relays?"

The question was followed with another long silence. "The Admiral isn't going to like that any better," Gaeta said finally.

"I'm not seeing another option," Helo replied. "Besides, we can _trust_ the Cylons."

Gaeta looked deeply skeptical about this idea, leaning more heavily on his crutch than before. Next to him, Traynor cleared her throat hesitantly. "I … thought you were allies."

"It's a recent alliance." Athena turned around to look at Traynor. "Besides… we look human, but we're like the geth." She shifted her gaze to Helo and Gaeta. "And they're the quarians."

"I can see where that would be a somewhat tenuous alliance," Adams murmured appreciatively. "Trusting the creations that tried to kill you."

"Yeah. There's a lot that the Cylons need to answer for," Athena said with a sigh. "This is a start. Guiding the Fleet through the relay to the start of a new life."

"If the Fleet will accept the help," Gaeta said. "How many ship's captains might balk at trusting their safety to the Heavy Raiders?"

Helo let out a long breath. "Probably more than a few. The President is going to have to do some fast talking."

"Then we'd better go update her and the Admiral so that they can get started," Athena said decisively.


	8. Chapter 8

Athena kept a close eye on Adama, watching his reaction to the news she had just delivered. The Admiral took off his glasses and ran a hand over his forehead, then gave a deep sigh and put his glasses back on. "Heavy Raider escorts. You're sure that's our best option?"

"As sure as I can be within the time constraints, sir," Athena replied. Helo was a half-step behind her, and Gaeta had taken the first available seat when they walked into the observation lounge. Traynor had peeled off when they exited the elevator on the crew deck, saying that she needed to speak to Shepard about something.

"I am certainly reluctant to trust the safety of our Fleet to blind chance and luck," the President said, from her seat besides the Admiral. "However - as you've correctly stated - the captains might not think that the Cylons are a significant improvement."

"Well, we'll have to find a way to convince them." Adama sighed and put his glasses back on. "Can I assume that you will be guiding Galactica, Lieutenant Agathon?"

Athena nodded. "Yes, sir. I'll just need to interface with the ship's AI to get the information."

"Interface how?" Williams asked, exchanging a confused glance with T'Soni. "What would you need?"

"Well." Athena cleared her throat, unsure how to broach this topic with their new allies. She could remember, all too clearly, the expressions on everyone's faces in the CIC the first time she had taken a knife to her arm so that she could stick a cord in her Cylon veins. "I need a hard line." She watched their faces for reactions, then sighed and decided that she'd had just about enough of needing to tiptoe around issues of what she was and could do. "And a knife. I'm going to cut open my arm so I can stick the hard line in there."

To her surprise, neither Williams nor T'Soni blanched at that. Athena had to admire them for that, even as she wondered what it was _they_ had seen that caused them to treat this news so nonchalantly.

"I'd imagine you can find a scalpel or two in the medical bay, and the AI Core is on the other side of there," T'Soni said. "Would you mind terribly if I observed this, Lieutenant Agathon?"

"I guess not," Athena said after a moment. They were supposed to be sharing information, after all.

T'Soni smiled. "Then we should get started." She turned to head for the door, but paused when it slid open in front of her to reveal Shepard and Traynor.

"Commander Shepard," Adama said, rising from his seat. "Is everything all set with Admiral Hackett?"

Shepard nodded. "It is, Admiral. I was coming to share that news with you when I ran into Traynor. She brought a different matter to my attention." She sighed. "I should have seen it sooner, but … never mind." Straightening up, she looked every inch the professional as she turned her focus to Gaeta. "Lieutenant Gaeta. I can tell that the loss of your leg is recent, and still pains you. I can only imagine how depleted Galactica's medical resources are, after all that you've been through. The Normandy's medical bay is fully stocked. You can get some proper rest with proper pain relief while EDI talks you through … whatever technical stuff is your area of expertise. That'll also give her a chance to take scans."

"Scans?" Gaeta repeated. "What for?"

"So that the technicians at the hospital on the Citadel can create a prosthesis for you," Shepard said. Gaeta's eyes widened, and he gripped the arms of his chair. "Obviously, it'll take some getting used to, and the actual replacement will have to wait until after the war…"

"Wait, actual replacement?"

Shepard blinked. "Ah. I had assumed that with the whole Cylon cloning thing, but I keep forgetting … Let me back up. It's possible to grow you a new leg, Lieutenant Gaeta. One made from your DNA, so that your body won't reject it. As I said, it'll have to wait until the war is over."

Gaeta put his head in his hands. Athena was pretty sure that he was crying. She saw Starbuck turn her head to look away from Gaeta, and wondered how much guilt Starbuck felt about her actions on the Demetrius.

"If he can be spared, Admiral," Shepard added after a moment, looking at Adama.

Adama nodded. "Yes. Lieutenant Agathon has found a way to help our ships navigate the mass relays. She'll need access to your AI Core immediately. After that, she and Captain Agathon can take one of the Raptors back to Galactica to start preparations."

Shepard looked at the ceiling. "EDI?"

"Lieutenant Agathon's proposal is most reasonable, and I am glad to assist."

Athena couldn't help but like Shepard a little bit more for that. She was actively consulting EDI about things that the AI would be a part of. The AI controlled the ship, but still deferred to Shepard, treated her like a superior officer. She was starting to feel optimistic about the decision to ally with these people.

"I'll take them to the Infirmary and AI Core, Shepard," T'Soni said.

Shepard nodded. "Good. The rest of you comfortable here?"

Williams cleared her throat. "I'd like to get Kara squared away here, Shepard."

"Go ahead, Ash. I'll sit with the Colonials and answer the inevitable questions," Shepard replied with a grin.

"This way," T'Soni said to Athena, gesturing for her to follow. Athena did so, with Helo a half step behind her and Gaeta a few steps behind them. When they entered the Infirmary, T'Soni took a minute to help Gaeta get situated on one of the beds. That finished, she found a clean scalpel and walked into the AI Core, Athena and Helo right behind her.

The room was smaller than she'd been expecting. Athena had to remind herself that the AI was a _true_ AI, not like the Cylon Hybrids. There were rows of computers along the walls, and a small screen directly in front of the door. Lines of code were scrolling on the screen, too fast for a human to follow - but Athena caught every bit of it.

She reminded herself that time was short. "I need a hard line," she said.

"There is an interface to your right."

Athena turned and saw the gold holographic projection, which fuzzed out immediately. "Open the panel and detach the center cord."

She did so easily, then brought out the scalpel and pressed it against her left arm, a few inches above her wrist. Beside her, T'Soni watched silently, her face smooth and composed. Helo gave her shoulder a squeeze before stepping back, giving her space.

"I must caution you that any attempt to introduce a virus into my system will be met with immediate countermeasures," EDI said. The words contained the most emotion that Athena had yet seen from the AI: determination and hardness. She was protective of her ship.

"No viruses," Athena assured her. She picked up the cord, examining it, stalling for time. This _should_ work. EDI had been able to send the data to the Hybrid. She still couldn't help the small frisson of fear that went through her. This was a _completely alien_ intelligence she was about to interface with. She had absolutely no idea what was about to happen next.

Athena slid the silver cord into her arm and closed her eyes.

She had the sense of her consciousness expanding to take in all of the different aspects of the ship - but it didn't spread out as far as she was used to. The Normandy was smaller, compact - all of the essential processes were there, but at a much smaller scale. EDI was aware of them all. She was like a Hybrid, plugged into everything.

But she wasn't directly controlling everything. Engineer Adams was right where they had left him, looking over the engine readings and inputting commands. EDI responded.

Or was it more accurate to say that the ship responded?

Athena saw the history of this ship in the blink of an eye. EDI could run the ship by herself, but it could also be run with only human input. She sensed that EDI had pulled back from areas like engineering and flight control so that she wouldn't get in the way of the humans there.

It was altogether different and alien. But not so alien that she couldn't understand it — couldn't understand _her._ There was no doubt in Athena's mind that EDI was female. Cerberus had given her a female voice and she had embraced that as she became more independent and self-aware. EDI perceived herself as female. So she was.

Athena felt a touch at the edge of her mind. Her mental projection of herself turned to see EDI, representing herself in this shared awareness with a simple image — a blue ball on top of a short, slim pedestal.

_Are you ready to accept the data transfer?_

Once again Athena was struck by how polite EDI was. The AI could have just started shoving the data at her, but EDI gave her a chance to get acclimated and _asked_ if she was ready.

_Yes._

The data flowed towards Athena — a smooth, steady stream of information about the relays. There was so much to unpack and Athena didn't bother trying; she just absorbed it all. She hoped she'd be able to recall and analyze it later.

Gasping, Athena opened her eyes. She felt Helo's hand tightening on her shoulder, steadying her as she removed the cord from her arm.

"May I?" T'Soni asked from Athena's left side. Her omni-tool was raised, the odd orange interface seeming brighter than Shepard's had been earlier.

"Uh — what?"

T'Soni chuckled. "Right, I … keep forgetting. Medi-gel. It should close that wound up right away."

"All right," Athena replied skeptically, watching T'Soni closely as she moved her arm down to lightly brush the wound. Athena felt a cool, tingling sensation spread over her arm. Her eyes widened as she saw the wound closing literally before her eyes.

"That's …. something else," Helo said. He turned an awe-struck gaze on T'Soni. "And this is commonplace?"

"Used for everything from small wounds to large ones," T'Soni replied. "I'm sure that we can find a way to distribute some to your people."

"You have no idea how much that would help our people," Helo said slowly. "Especially if we're going to continue to be part of the fight."

Athena rubbed at the section of her arm which had been so miraculously healed. "We will be," she said. "Count on it."

* * *

Galen Tyrol felt out of place with everyone else in the observation lounge. The Old Man was talking with the President and Apollo, with Commander Shepard nearby, occasionally interjecting comments. He felt no strong desire to walk over and join them, and the Old Man seemed to recognize that he wanted to be left alone.

He wasn't sure whether he was glad to be here or not - things on the Galactica had been tense since he, Tigh, Anders and Tory had revealed themselves as four of the "Final Five" Cylons. If he was being honest with himself, his life had started spiraling downwards ever since he'd discovered he was a Cylon. None of them — except Tory — had welcomed the development. He'd been neck-deep in the Resistance on New Caprica with Tigh and Sam.

Tyrol understood why he'd been picked to come to the Normandy. He understood the mechanical side of things better than perhaps anyone else on the Galactica, and it had only taken one glance around Normandy's shuttle bay to tell him that their tech was on a different level than the Colonial's. Was the Old Man also hoping he'd have some special 'Final Five' insight? If he was, he hadn't mentioned it within Tyrol's hearing.

The door to the lounge slid open, and the alien — Dr. T'Soni — walked in. She looked over at the cluster of four by the window, then over at him. He felt … _something_ tugging at the edge of his consciousness, something that he knew but didn't know. It was, he knew, connected to his newly awakened Cylon identity. He strained to catch hold of whatever it was and felt it slipping through his mental fingers like water.

Tyrol shook his head to clear the odd sensation. He'd lost a few minutes, and Dr. T'Soni was next to him, looking at him with a concerned expression on her face. "Are you all right, Chief Tyrol?" she asked.

"I'm fine," he said, a little too fast, shaking his head again. "It's just … a lot to take in."

"I can imagine. May I join you?"

He hesitated only a moment before nodding, trying to put a more positive expression on his face. "Certainly, Dr. T'Soni."

"Liara, please," the blue woman — the _asari_ — said with a smile.

"Liara," Tyrol replied. "And I'm — " he hesitated. "Galen."

She must have noticed his hesitation, but he was grateful when she didn't say anything about it. "This must all be very confusing for you."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Tyrol replied with a rueful laugh. "I'm not quite sure what we were expecting, but it — it wasn't this."

"Captain Thrace told me some of it," Liara said, nodding. "I have an idea of what your society was like, but, if you don't mind — can I ask what your life was like? Before the Cylon attack."

Tyrol felt his stomach twist into knots at that question. He was sure she'd thought it was innocent enough, and maybe she'd read his hesitation as grief over the loss of his 'normal' life. The problem was that he didn't know what was real and what had been implanted in his memory. Would talking about it help, now that he knew some of it might be false? Would he be able to tell?

He had nothing to lose by trying, at least.

"I enlisted in the military when I was 18," he said, not quite starting at the beginning. That had to be true, didn't it? It would have been hard for him to be dropped in with a fake service record. "I've been there ever since, as part of the deck crew, and then moving up to Chief Petty Officer." And then moving back down. He didn't particularly feel like talking about that. "I'm sure it's not that different from the life that others like Shepard and Williams lived."

"I'll concede that military life was likely not that interesting," Liara said with a chuckle. "But what about before you turned 18? What was your life like, growing up? It's fascinating to me that there was another human society that developed parallel to that on Earth, and I'm afraid that my scientific curiosity is getting the better of me."

"My father was a priest, and my mother was an Oracle." Tyrol had intended to keep going with his fake memories, but the words died in his mouth and he couldn't find it in him to continue. He thought about how Boomer must have felt when she realized that _her_ entire past was a lie. A part of him wanted to cling to it, pretend that it was somehow still true, but he was too desperate for answers to cling to a lie. He had to believe that there was some _purpose_ to the so-called Final Five, as the Cylons thought, or the destruction of his life, of everything he had worked for, would have been for nothing.

Tyrol looked at this alien woman whose features were so human-like and decided, following some hazy instinct, to trust her. "At least, that's what I believed until recently." He took a deep breath. "My memories from before I joined the military are fake. I'm a Cylon."

Liara's eyebrows raised in surprise, and then her expression turned eager. "Really! When did you find out that you were a Cylon? _How_ did you find out?"

Tyrol took another deep breath, and considered how to explain this to her. He had to remember that she knew almost nothing about Cylons. Just whatever Starbuck had said earlier. And Starbuck was — well, Starbuck. So, better to err on the side of _more _information. "First, you have to know that I'm — different. Most of the Cylons are — clones. Duplicates of one another. Athena — Sharon Agathon — is like that. They all seem to follow a personality type, but when they start having different experiences, they become different people." Another deep breath, to steady himself. "There's no clones of me. Just me. The other Cylons didn't know who we were." He saw the confusion in her face, and hastened to clarify. "The other three who — we figured out we were Cylons at the same time. The other Cylons, the clone ones, they called us the Final Five."

"And yet," Liara prompted, "you said there were three others. That's only four."

"We - don't actually know who the fifth is," Tyrol confessed. "We have theories. Nothing terribly concrete." He shrugged. "Kind of got put aside for the time being. We had — _have_ — bigger problems. Some of the Cylons were desperate to figure out who we were. Their actions meant we had to reveal ourselves, and our friends and comrades …" He trailed off, and hung his head. "They saw it as a betrayal. We didn't see it terribly differently." Except Tory.

"Aside from the fact that there's only one of you," Liara said, "what else about you is different?"

"That none of us knew we were Cylons until we were switched on?" Tyrol said, looking up again and shrugging. "I — don't really know, Dr. T'Soni. Liara. The Cylons, one in particular, have a lot of ideas about us. What we can do. What our arrival means. In case you haven't noticed, everyone's placing a lot of importance on finding Earth."

"I did get that," Liara said dryly.

"There is one thing," Tyrol said. "At least one thing. I think — we have some buried knowledge. Ever since I came onboard the Normandy, things have seemed …" he struggled to articulate the complex thoughts and emotions churning inside of him. "Right," he said after a moment. "_Right._ Like I'm remembering something that I always knew, but I just forgot that I knew. I look at you, and something seems familiar, even though I didn't even know you existed until today." He sighed and shook his head. "Gods. Maybe we _were_ always supposed to come back."

Liara reached out a hand and laid it atop his. Her skin was smooth, the touch feeling exactly like a human hand. Tyrol lifted his gaze and met her clear blue eyes. She was _beautiful_. It had been ages since…

He ruthlessly stopped that train of thought before it could go any farther.

"I can only imagine how confusing this all is for you," Liara said, her voice low and soothing. "I'm sure there will be a way to untangle it. After all, you just said that you haven't had a chance to talk this through with your people — neither Cylon nor human." She smiled, and those feelings that he had squashed moments ago came flaring back to life. He hoped that none of it showed on his face.

"Yeah. Maybe," Tyrol said, removing his hand in a way that he hoped wasn't too hasty. Liara didn't seem to be offended, which let him relax a little. To distract himself, he looked over at the other Colonials and noticed Roslin in conference with Commander Shepard. Roslin was looking at the wall intently.

A moment later, he saw a blue hologram shimmer into existence from that very wall. The hologram started out as a seemingly random shape — a blue ball on top of a pedestal — then changed to an image of a microphone. The President looked just as surprised as Tyrol felt, then cleared her throat.

"Citizens of the Colonial Fleet. I am speaking to you from the SSV Normandy, the flagship of Earth's military systems." Roslin's voice turned intense. "Yes. We have found Earth."

She paused for a long moment — Tyrol figured it was to let the inevitable reaction onboard all of the Colonial ships die down. He knew that word of the initial meeting on Galactica would have spread to all of the other ships, but there was a difference between rumor and confirmation from the President.

"And yes," Roslin continued, a moment after Adama raised a questioning eyebrow in her direction, "we are currently heading away from Earth. It pained the Admiral to have to give that order, but our new allies, the Thirteenth Tribe, have assured us that it was the only decision we could have made, given the situation.

"It seems that our long-lost cousins have their own violent, vengeful machines. They are called Reapers. They are hitting Earth in force and the Thirteenth Tribe is regrouping at one of their other colonies and seeking allies.

"I know this all seems rather unbelievable. I know that many of you may feel disappointed and angry that we have found Earth only to leave it. But the captain of this ship, Commander Artemis Shepard, has provided myself, the Admiral, and a handful of other senior military personnel with adequate proof of her words." Roslin turned to look at the red-haired woman who was standing against a nearby wall with her arms folded across her chest. "Her name provides further evidence of our two peoples being linked. Artemis is a goddess of the hunt on Earth, as she was on the Twelve Colonies.

"Artemis Shepard is a brave warrior, a leader among her military, and — most importantly — respected by the other species in this galaxy."

Another pause to let the inevitable hubbub die down. Tyrol had never thought about how the President needed to pace her speeches before. This wasn't the first time that she had addressed the entire fleet in this manner, and he was remembering other times when there had been long pauses.

"Yes, there are other species here. Aliens. Many different types, some very similar to us, and others quite different. I promise that information about these different species will be made available to all. But, for now, we must return to the familiar and deal with an immediate threat to the Fleet's continued existence."

"Artemis Shepard has pledged to escort the Fleet to join the Systems Alliance military. There, our civilian ships will have a chance to rest and make much-needed repairs. There, Galactica will also get the chance to make repairs and learn more about the military situation. As of right now." Roslin paused for dramatic effect. "We have an end to constant FTL jumps which wear on ships and crew alike. The Thirteenth Tribe and their allies travel by a method that is faster and easier than FTL. After conferring with technical experts aboard the Normandy, we are confident that the ships of the Fleet can use these relays to travel alongside the Normandy and safely reach the Alliance Fleet."

Roslin paused again, and Tyrol saw the strain in her face. _Here it comes,_ he thought. _The hard sell._ "But we will need help to use the relays. The technology the Thirteenth Tribe and their allies possess is beyond even what the Cylons are capable of."

"I'm not so sure about that," Liara muttered beside him. It was the first time she'd spoken since the President began her speech. "That type of large-scale cloning and consciousness transfer is decades ahead of anything I'm aware of."

Tyrol nodded absently and returned his attention to Roslin.

"In order to reach the safety promised by the Systems Alliance, we will have to rely on our Cylon allies to help us traverse the relays. Each ship will have a Heavy Raider escort that will guide them. Once we have joined the Alliance fleet, we can explore the option of retrofitting our ships so that we can travel on our own.

"I know this may seem like another risky gamble, or another setback. It is not. We have _found_ Earth. We have _found_ the Thirteenth Tribe. They have welcomed us with open arms. They are our _allies_. Artemis Shepard will hunt our enemies down, like her namesake, the goddess that watches over Earth and the Twelve Colonies alike. Together, we will prevail. _Together_, we _will _defeat our enemies." Roslin slowed her cadence, spreading out the words like she had done a few minutes earlier.

"Captains, you will be contacted shortly by Heavy Raider pilots to begin coordinating the journey through the relay. May the Lords of Kobol watch over us all."

* * *

Athena kept her expression even as she walked out onto Galactica's flight deck. The data she'd received from EDI felt like a vibrant jumble of coordinates and equations, an exciting packet of information that she yearned to analyze.

Dee was waiting for her there, along with a handful of other senior officers. She saluted and fell into step besides Helo. "I heard the President's speech," she said. "Cylon pilots guiding our ships through the relays. I can't imagine that's going over well in certain quarters of the Fleet."

"Probably not," Helo agreed, "but it's not our problem."

"Thank the gods for that," Dee said softly. She turned her head to look at Athena. "You can take Galactica through?"

Athena nodded. "The Admiral wants us to go first. The Cylons are working out the best order for everyone else, they'll go second-to-last."

"Last is the … Normandy?" Dee hesitated a moment. Athena could see the eagerness in her face. "What's it like over there?" she finally asked.

"It's a nearly brand-new ship," Helo replied. "You can tell. There's still some disorganization, but everything looks … shining. Hopeful."

"Hopeful?"

"They believe in their Commander," Athena said. Until Helo had said that, she hadn't thought of it in that way, but now it seemed obvious. "They all follow her lead without question."

"Can she be trusted to look out for our interests?" Dee asked.

"She's got bigger problems, but she won't act against us."

"You sound very confident in that."

Dee was good at making questions into seemingly casual observations, a skill she'd likely obtained from the years spent working closely with the Old Man. "Their ship is run by an AI," Athena told her. "That's how I got the data. She's technically illegal, but Commander Shepard trusts her and EDI — the AI — would do anything to protect her crew."

"And she's an AI that sounds one hell of a lot like a Six," Helo added.

"That's … one hell of a coincidence," Dee said.

Athena sighed. "If it _is_ a coincidence. These people _are_ the Thirteenth Tribe, after all."

"But the Sixes — all of the human models — they weren't created until after the first Cylon War," Dee said, sounding as perplexed as Athena felt.

"Maybe we'll figure it out," Helo offered.

"Maybe," Athena agreed, then sighed again. "One thing at a time."

Dee nodded, and fell in behind Athena as they entered the CIC. Everyone looked up at the entering group, chatter fading into silence as they watched Athena walk over to the sensor console.

"Remember, we're just moving under thrusters," Helo said, projecting his voice so that everyone could hear. "FTL drive remains spun down. Follow Lieutenant Agathon's directions exactly. No matter how odd they seem."

There was a soft chuckle at that. Athena brought out her knife and drew a line on her skin parallel to the one that she'd drawn on the Normandy. It was already healing and would be gone in a few more days. Without her Cylon regenerative capabilities, her arm would have been covered in crisscrossing scars.

The cold silver cord slid into her arm, and Athena closed her eyes.

The Normandy had been bright, seamless; Galactica was a dark patchwork. But it was _her_ dark patchwork, the system that she had injected herself into more times than she could easily remember.

She used Galactica's sensors to find the relay. It glowed with a bright blue energy, completely foreign, completely impersonal. It was a machine in the most literal sense of the word. An artificial creation that did exactly what it was supposed to. No more, no less.

Athena began calling out directions, adjusting Galactica's headings and speed. As the Normandy's engineer had said, there was a very clear spot that Galactica needed to aim for. Athena knew she would have to be calling out minute course changes up until they got to the point where the relay could recognize them. Most of the ships who used the relays were much smaller than Galactica, and the larger ships had crews who had undergone extra training before being posted to those ships — mostly turians and asari.

… _How the hell did I know that? About the turians and asari?_

The thought slipped away from her, leaving only a vague sense of disquiet as she continued to direct the crew of Galactica.

Finally, they were within range. "Galactica is on target," Athena said loudly. "Everyone take a step back from their instruments." _It's out of our hands now,_ she thought, and couldn't help but feel nervous.

Still plugged into Galactica's sensors, she felt the moment when the blue energy of the relay reached out, starting to cover the ship.

"Relay transit in five, four…"

The ship was being moved forward. Not by any human on board; they had all taken a step back as she had told them to.

"Three, two…"

The mass effect field had completely surrounded Galactica. Athena felt the hum of the relay, an intense vibration that seemed to resonate through every part of her body.

"One."


	9. Chapter 9

_What's this? A new chapter that didn't take me 6 months? It's a miracle!_

_What can I say - I've been in a writing mood recently and this story has been flowing, so I'm going to take advantage of this creative burst for as long as it lasts!_

* * *

Tyrol looked out the window of the Normandy's Observation Deck and saw Galactica vanish through the relay. He felt a knot in his stomach that he was sure the Admiral was feeling as well - of seeing the ship, _his_ ship, vanish into nothingness. Gone, with no way to be certain of where it was now. No way to contact and ask if they were all right.

"How long-" he began, then stopped, shaking his head. "There's no way to know, is there?"

"That's an awful lot of ships that have never used a relay before and have someone remotely guiding them," Liara said, her voice soft.

"Frak." On the other side of the room, the President was talking to one of the civilian captains, doing her best to calm his fears about the Cylons taking over his ship. Tyrol shook his head again.

"And this is only the first jump," Liara said after a few minutes. "Only to Arcturus. Then this whole process repeats."

"Why can't we go straight there?" Tyrol asked.

"There are two different types of relays," Liara replied. "Primary and secondary. Primary relays only connect to one other mass relay. Charon, the one in Earth's system, is a primary. It only goes to Arcturus, which is a secondary. Secondary relays connect to multiple other relays, either primary or secondary, within a few hundred light-years."

Tyrol took a second to turn this over in his head. "So, when we get to Arcturus, we're going to have to regroup and … tell the Arcturus relay where we want to go?"

Liara nodded. "That was in the information that EDI passed to the Cylons."

"So I guess now all we have to do is wait," Tyrol said. And, as they'd just discussed, that wait might be a while. Talking to her was the best way to pass the time, but he didn't particularly want to go back to the Cylon topic. "I don't suppose you could … tell me more about Earth? About humanity in this corner of the galaxy?"

"It would be my pleasure, Galen," Liara said with a reassuring smile.

* * *

The energy vanished.

It felt like a shock to Athena's system. One minute she had been filled with a powerful, ancient force, and the next she was back to just Galactica's sensors. She mourned the loss, even as she felt relieved to be back to the comfortable and familiar.

"Status report!" Helo shouted.

Athena pulled back from Galactica, centering herself in her body once more. She opened her eyes and looked at Gaeta's station, currently occupied by Lieutenant Hoshii.

"We're somewhere else," Hoshii said, turning in his chair to look at Helo. "I … have no reference as to where, sir."

"Frak," Helo cursed.

"It's okay. We're where we want to be." Athena hadn't known that until she spoke it aloud.

Helo turned to look at her, concern on his face. "We are?"

"The relay … it only goes one place," Athena said. "We made the transit. So we've made it to Arcturus Station. What used to be the center of human government."

"Used to be?" Hoshii asked, then belatedly added, "Ma'am."

"The Reapers hit it. Everyone there died."

"It's like the attack on the Colonies all over again," someone said, and a general murmur of agreement rippled through the CIC.

"Cut the chatter," Helo barked. "Athena. What's next?"

"The relay dumped us out a fair distance away from it, to avoid ships coming in too close to one another," Athena replied. "We need to head back and find an opening to use it again, to meet up with Fifth Fleet."

"Opening?"

"A point where there's not so much incoming traffic, from the rest of the Fleet, such that the relay can send us out again." Athena smiled at him, doing her best to make it a reassuring smile. "I'm up again."

"All right," Helo said, clearly skeptical, but just as clearly ready to let her go ahead with it. His willingness to respect her judgment and her limits was just one of the many reasons why she loved him.

The cord was still in her arm. All she had to do was return her attention to Galactica's sensors and do what she'd done before. She called out headings, course changes, thruster speeds - more confident this time, with a finer sense of where they needed to go.

When the blue energy of the mass effect field touched Galactica again, Athena reached out to 'talk' to the relay. It needed to be told where to send them, since it had multiple options - unlike the Charon relay.

She felt an ancient _presence _in the relay - it wasn't sentient, but there was some intelligence there, something that acknowledged her.

_Here_, Athena thought in its general direction. The data swirled in her mind, bright, vibrant. _This relay. Hades Gamma cluster. _It seemed a bit ominous that they were heading for a cluster named after the god of the underworld, but EDI had been clear that they would find the Systems Alliance's Fifth Fleet there.

The Arcturus relay took the data from her - a cold, impersonal, and powerful touch on her mind that left her feeling drained. She wanted to pull back, to sit down and rest, but she had to see this through.

"Hands off," she said, putting as much volume and force behind the words as she could manage. "Second transit in five. Four. Three. Two. _One_."

The relay activated, flinging Galactica into the blackness of space.

Her mind traveled _with_ the ship, seeing the stars flying past them. Stars of many different ages, sizes, types. Dwarf stars. Stars that had gone nova. The second she registered their presence they were gone. She/Galactica was moving at an impossible speed. Beyond what an organic mind could comprehend.

… she wasn't an organic.

She was a Cylon. An Eight.

* * *

"Well, you have to be related," Liara said. "That's beyond question."

Tyrol frowned. "How are you so sure about that?"

"Two separate planets giving rise to the same species is highly improbable. I might even say impossible," Liara replied. "Humans evolved under circumstances very specific to Earth. DNA sequencing proves your evolutionary lineage. There are several species of great ape on Earth that share 99% of their DNA with humans. For your people to not be related to the humans on Earth, they would need to have evolved on an identical planet. The chances of two planets being identical to one another is essentially impossible. And since your culture has a mythology of having come from somewhere else, it seems likely that - somehow - your people were transported off of Earth and to the planets that would become the Twelve Colonies."

"Kobol," Tyrol corrected, then remembered that she didn't know anything about Kobol. "Our myths-" they didn't feel much like myths, these days - "say that there were thirteen tribes that left Kobol. Twelve to the Colonies, and one to Earth."

"Kobol, then," Liara said, nodding. "Do you think that I could get a map of your journey from your home to here? It would be very interesting to see the paths you took, the markers that you used along the way."

"You'd have to ask the Admiral or the President for that," Tyrol said, looking over at where they still sat together.

Liara nodded again. "I'll do that before they leave for Hackett's ship."

"Charon Relay is in range. Initiating transmission sequence," the Normandy pilot's voice came over the intercom.

"You'll probably want to watch this," Liara said. Still looking at the others, Tyrol saw that they had all risen from their seats and went to stand by the window, their gazes intent on the rapidly-approaching relay. A massive steel structure, wider than it was tall, with what looked like a pair of giant rings circling around a bright blue field.

"Thanks for talking to me," Tyrol said, turning back to smile at Liara before he stood.

"I hope we'll get a chance to speak more later," she replied, her responding smile bright. Tyrol tried to tell himself that her friendliness and enthusiasm was just because he was a novelty, someone who could give her information on this fascinating new culture that she desperately wanted to analyze.

"I hope so too," he said, then walked over to stand with the others. The Old Man nodded to him as he approached. No one spoke. They all stood there and watched the majestic structure approaching.

"We are connected," the pilot said. "Calculating transit mass and destination."

"Is he doing this for our benefit?" the Old Man wondered aloud.

"Yes, he is," Shepard responded from behind them. "I'm sure you're the only ones on board the Normandy that couldn't do a passable job of reciting the process from memory."

"The relay is hot, acquiring approach vector."

The blue glow of the mass relay seemed to intensify the closer they got. Tyrol found himself holding his breath. He reminded himself that the Normandy had been built to take this kind of journey, that it had surely done so a thousand times before he came onboard. There was no reason to be nervous.

Which, of course, didn't _actually _drive the anxious feeling away.

"All stations, secure for transit. Board is green. Approach run has begun."

The rings at the center of the relay were spinning, slowly but surely gaining momentum as the Normandy flew closer.

"Hitting the relay in - three, two, one -"

The entire ship was engulfed in that impossibly bright blue blaze, the tendril stretching out from the bright core in a delicate arc. Every one of the Colonials gasped at the sight. Then a loud roaring filled Tyrol's ears and he felt like a great weight was pressing on him. He was glued to the spot yet wishing he had something to hold onto. This was more intense than any FTL jump had ever been, and seemed to go on forever.

Then, abruptly, the roaring ceased and Tyrol felt like he could focus again. He heard the pilot running through a check of all the systems but didn't pay as close attention to him as he had before the relay transit. He was too busy staring at the all-too-familiar sight outside.

Arcturus Station had been huge. He could tell that by the size of the debris field. Twisted hunks of metal were everywhere, burnt and battered ships floating off in the distance. A lot of different kinds of ships. Fighters and their carriers, ships the size of the Normandy. They all looked human - no signs of the giant black ships that had been surrounding Earth when they jumped in.

That was when he started to truly understand the enormity of Earth's enemies - and how small Galactica was in comparison.

"EDI. Status report," the Admiral said. He sounded like he was back on Galactica, speaking to someone in the CIC. It gave Tyrol a chill.

"I am reading approximately 60% of your ships."

"What happened to the others?" There was a note of concern in the President's voice as she asked the question.

"It is likely that they have completed the second relay transit and are waiting on the other side."

"Likely. Can we get confirmation of that?" the Admiral asked.

"Not until we make the transit ourselves, Admiral Adama."

Adama sighed. "Then I suppose we just have to wait. Again."

"Sharon? Sharon?!"

The words came to the Eight's ears from a distance. Someone was calling her name. But she was a Cylon. She didn't have a name. She was an Eight.

"What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know. Sharon! Gods dammit, _speak to me_."

"Athena, what's wrong?"

_Athena._ Goddess of Wisdom. One of the Lords of Kobol.

It was someone's callsign.

… hers?

"Sharon. _Please_. I need you. Hera needs you."

_Hera._ Wife of Zeus. Another of the Lords of Kobol.

_Hera._ Her daughter.

Sharon Agathon opened her eyes and let out a gasp. Her body felt limp, and she swayed, starting to fall.

Helo caught her before she reached the ground. The cord that she'd plugged into her arm fell away, drops of blood trailing on the floor of the CIC.

"What - where -" she tried to form the questions, and failed.

"You just stood there," Helo said. "After we went through the relay. You didn't move. You didn't say anything. Gods, I was so worried -"

He helped her to her feet. She kept her arm around his back, trying to draw strength from him.

"You need to lie down," Helo said sternly, then bellowed in his XO voice, "We need a stretcher here!"

"Need to see - if we made it," Athena gasped, trying to stand up straight.

Helo tightened his grip. "You're in no condition to do anything. We'll know as soon as the Normandy comes through."

She wanted to keep arguing, but she simply didn't have the strength. Athena sagged against Helo, putting most of her weight on him, until the stretcher came and bore her away to the Infirmary.

Laura sat down when the Normandy's pilot announced that they were ready for the second transit, so Adama sat as well. She smiled at him and put her hand on top of his, gripping it tightly. He returned the smile, grateful beyond words that she'd finally acknowledged what had been growing between them.

He watched the relay approach, marveling at its size and power. A way to move between _here_ and _there_ in an instant. It meant that a good communications network was needed, to ensure that everyone could still talk to one another. Shepard had said that the _Normandy_ had a quantum entanglement communicator that allowed for real-time, face-to-face discussions with people who also had one. It seemed like fantastically advanced technology.

Then again, little about this new world _didn't_ seem fantastical.

The relay's glow expanded to include the Normandy. Seconds later, Adama was pressed into the couch by the force of the transit. He hoped this was something that one could get used to. He hated feeling paralyzed, even if only for an instant.

The transit finished, and Adama stood, looking out the window at the field of ships. The familiar forms were a very welcome sight, and he felt the worry lifting from him. They had made it.

"All ships in the Colonial Fleet accounted for, Admiral," EDI said from the speakers in the ceiling.

"Thank you," Adama replied, feeling uneasy at how she had volunteered the information. She was a fast learner, or a good judge of humans. He still didn't like thinking that an AI might have those qualities.

"Admiral Hackett is aboard the SSV Hong Kong. He is looking forward to seeing all of you."

Shepard caught Adama's eye. "We'd better head down to the shuttle bay," she said. "You have a pilot for your Raptor?"

"Yes. I will be piloting," Adama said.

"Still remember how?" Lee asked, grinning at his father. "I could give you a few pointers…"

Adama couldn't keep the smile off his face. "I thought you were a civilian now, _Mr._ Adama. Besides." He turned his gaze to Laura. "I did fly one not too long ago."

"You did," Laura agreed, smiling as she gripped his arm.

"So, the Kodiak will just be a bit cramped on the way back," Shepard said, bringing Adama's focus back to her. "It'll be a short trip. We can manage."

Adama nodded, following her out the door.

Williams and Starbuck met the group in the shuttle bay. Adama noticed that Starbuck was rubbing a point inside her left elbow, in a manner that suggested she was trying not to scratch that spot. He gave her a small smile when she clambered into the Raptor after them and tried not to dwell on the fact that this would be the last time he'd see her, or Lee, for an indefinite period of time.

Lee took the ECO seat in the Raptor, most likely out of long habit - they would hardly need an ECO for this short flight. Adama waited for Lieutenant Cortez to take the Kodiak out first before following, paying close attention to what he was doing. The unfamiliar flight decks were his primary concern. They were much smaller than those on the Colonial ships. There simply wasn't a need for the same amount of space, with those mass effect thrusters giving the shuttles greater maneuverability.

He continued to follow the Kodiak's path, maneuvering through space towards the Hong Kong. A frigate, Shepard had said. Adama brought the Raptor in for a successful landing, then opened the door to exit.

He was a bit startled when he didn't see a full turn-out to greet them. Perhaps the Systems Alliance was less formal than the Colonial military. Or perhaps they were just dispensing with the ceremony because they were at war. There was only a grizzled, white-haired man, about his own age, flanked by a handful of junior officers. This must be Admiral Hackett. Adama liked him instantly.

"Admiral Hackett," Shepard said, saluting him. Hackett saluted back, then grinned and offered Shepard his hand. She shook it enthusiastically.

"Good to see you in one piece, Commander," Hackett said. "Shuttle's on its way to the Normandy to pick up your prisoner. Dr. Eva Core is fairly high in the Cerberus hierarchy. Hopefully, we can get some useful intel out of her."

"Better you than me, sir. I don't really have the time or the facilities to do a proper interrogation," Shepard said. Adama had no idea what she was talking about, and figured that if it was important, he'd find out later. Then, for the first time in their admittedly short acquaintance, Shepard looked uncertain. "Sir… any news on …"

"I'm sorry," Hackett replied, shaking his head sadly. "Orizaba still hasn't reported in."

Shepard let out a long breath, then nodded, looking at the ground. Hackett clapped a hand on her shoulder, his face sharing some of Shepard's tension. "Don't give up hope, Artemis. Hannah's too tough to go down without a fight."

"Sir." Shepard swallowed, visibly composing herself. "You'll let me know?"

"As soon as I hear anything," Hackett promised. He looked over at the puzzled faces of the Colonials. "Captain Hannah Shepard, SSV Orizaba, is Artemis' mother. Orizaba's one of the many ships currently MIA."

Adama felt his gut twist at that news, and he looked over at Lee almost involuntarily. Both of them had gone through periods where they didn't know whether the other was alive or dead, so he had some idea of what Shepard was going through. His respect for her rose a notch. He'd never have guessed that her mother was MIA.

Hackett cleared his throat before turning to Williams. "Lieutenant Commander. I don't suppose I can convince you to take over one of the ships here? We lost some good people getting away from Arcturus."

Williams looked over at Shepard, then shook her head. "Thanks, but no thanks, Admiral. I'm sticking with Shepard to the bitter end."

Shepard's face lit up at Williams' words. "Thought you might say that," Hackett commented dryly. "Well, let me know if you change your mind." He took a step towards Adama, putting his hand out in greeting. "Admiral Adama. Shepard's told me enough about you to know that you're an equal, despite your reduced fleet size. Rest assured I won't be trying to give you orders. Suggestions and friendly counsel, but not orders."

"That's good to hear," Adama said, shaking Hackett's hand. "This is Laura Roslin, President of the Twelve Colonies, and her Vice President - my son, Lee."

"Madame President. Mr. Vice President." Hackett nodded at each of them.

"And this is Captain Kara Thrace, who's just accepted an offer to join Shepard's crew," Adama continued, indicating Starbuck, who'd taken a place next to Williams.

"Shepard offered you a place on the Normandy? You must be a hell of a fighter," Hackett commented, offering his hand to Starbuck.

"I do my best, sir," Starbuck replied, grinning as they shook hands.

Hackett laughed, then turned to look at Adama again. "Down to business. Probably the first thing I'll want to do is get an assessment of your military capability. Including what repairs we might be able to do on Galactica. We don't have a full dockyard, but I'm confident we can manage something."

"The repairs will be much appreciated, Admiral," Adama said gratefully.

"Truth be told, I'm looking forward to the chance to poke around in her," Hackett said. "Never seen anything like your ship. If we can fit her with mass effect cannons… I'd feel a hell of a lot better about our chances."

"There's also the basestar," Starbuck said.

"Built by your own version of the geth." Hackett threw his hands in the air. "I know, I know. They're friendly. Still. It's a hell of a thing."

Adama nodded, showing that he had taken no offense. "That it is."

"Admiral Hackett?" One of the other officers stepped to his side. "We've got another ship coming in. It's … well, I don't know what it is."

"One of yours?" Hackett raised an eyebrow. "Thought this was everyone I needed to meet."

Shepard activated her omni-tool. "EDI, who's heading for the Hong Kong?"

"A Heavy Raider from Galactica," EDI replied. "I am reading three Cylons aboard."

"That's a very smart VI you have there," Hackett said, emphasizing the 'VI'. "Almost sounds like an AI."

"Almost," Shepard agreed neutrally. Adama remembered that AIs were illegal. It _sounded_ like Hackett was tacitly acknowledging and approving of EDI's presence on the Normandy. It was the sort of thing Adama might have done himself, anyways.

"Admiral, the - ah,"

"Heavy Raider," Adama supplied.

"The Heavy Raider," the younger officer continued, "says it can connect to the airlock and doesn't need to come onboard. It's just dropping off two passengers."

"That's a fine piece of flying," Hackett said, looking over at Adama. "I wouldn't want to do that with a Kodiak or a Hammerhead."

"The Cylons are excellent pilots," Adama replied.

"Good to know." Hackett turned, gesturing for them all to follow. "Mind giving me your assessment of these unexpected additions, Admiral?"

"They're our allies. Probably want to be included in military discussions."

"If that's the case, why wasn't one onboard Normandy in the first place?"

"She was, but…" Adama trailed off, realizing that the Cylons didn't exactly view Athena as _their_ representative. He shook his head, cursing himself for the oversight.

"She went back to help Galactica navigate the relays," Lee said, finishing his father's thought.

"I see." Hackett paused, looking thoughtful. "Would this same Cylon be one of the ones coming aboard now?"

"Not sure," Adama replied, even though he _was_ fairly positive that Sharon wasn't on the Heavy Raider. If she'd been coming back, she'd have used a Raptor, and she wouldn't have sprung this on him unannounced.

Hackett sighed. "Guess we'll find out soon enough." He lead them through the halls of the Hong Kong at a brisk pace. The layout was reminiscent of the Normandy, but with subtle differences that Adama couldn't put his finger on. Shepard had said the Normandy was a joint turian-human project, so that probably explained the differences.

Up on what Adama thought of as the flight deck, Hackett paused before a door, squinting to read some text on a display. "Airlock cycle's almost done," he said.

"Pilot's requesting confirmation when the passengers are onboard, Admiral," one of the officers said.

Hackett nodded his permission. The group waited in silence until, finally, the door slid open.

Adama looked at the two tall figures walking toward them and realized that he should have been able to predict who the Cylons would send. If he had, he could have better prepared Hackett to meet them. He was getting sloppy. He needed a break, but he wasn't really going to get one. Too late now for recriminations; he'd have to deal with things as they stood.

The last remaining Three stopped in front of the group and smiled, in that cocky manner that she seemed to frequently adopt. "Admiral Adama. And _you_ must be the famous Commander Shepard." She met Shepard's gaze. "I've heard so much about you. Brave warrior, leader of the Alliance military, a friend to every known species in the galaxy. It's an honor just to be in your presence."

"I'd say the same, if I knew who you were," Shepard replied dryly.

"Well, you can call me D'Anna Biers. It's as good a name as any. I don't have _quite_ the resume that you do, but I am the only one of my model left."

"So you're Sharon Agathon's replacement?" Williams asked.

"No, no," D'Anna laughed. "_She_ is Sharon Agathon's replacement on board the Normandy." She tilted her head to the tall Six who stood behind her, face expressionless beneath her blonde curls. "I'm here to contribute to the military plans. After all, we _are_ equal partners in this alliance. Aren't we, Admiral."

"Of course we are," Adama said, keeping his tone even. "You have my apologies for not coming to speak with you sooner."

"It's already forgotten." D'Anna waved his apology away. "So, you going to introduce me to everyone else here?"

"This is Admiral Hackett, leader of the Systems Alliance Navy," Adama said.

"Until someone more senior steps forward," Hackett added.

D'Anna's smile grew wider. "Oh, don't sell yourself short. I'm sure you'll do a fine job."

"I'm Lieutenant Commander Williams. Part of Shepard's crew," Williams said.

"Another fine hero of the Thirteenth Tribe, no doubt." D'Anna nodded. "And _this_ is-"

"I can introduce myself, thank you," the Six said, stepping forward. At the sound of her voice, Shepard and Williams both stiffened in shock. That was interesting, Adama thought. They'd heard many people say that EDI sounded like a Six, but apparently actually hearing that was very different. To be fair, the Six spoke with more emotion and - the word came to mind almost unwillingly - _humanity_, than the AI.

"My name is Caprica." She looked between Shepard and Williams. "I'm looking forward to seeing your ship."

"It'll be an adventure," Shepard said with a wry smile. "We should be on our way."

"Twist the Council's arms for us, Shepard," Hackett said. "We won't survive this without help."

Shepard saluted him. "I'll do my best, sir."

"Kara," Adama said to Starbuck. "Stay alive out there."

"Will do, Admiral," Starbuck assured him, grinning broadly.

Adama stepped forward, grasping Lee's shoulder and pulling him in for a quick embrace. "I'm proud of you, son," he said softly.

"Thanks, Dad," Lee responded, just as softly.

Adama watched them go - Shepard and Williams, Lee and Starbuck, and the Six who had helped Athena escape, putting herself in the hands of her enemy by doing so. The Six that had gotten to his old friend Saul, for reasons that Adama understood better now, but still couldn't quite accept.

"We should get started," Hackett said. "The conference room is this way."

Adama reluctantly wrenched his gaze away, nodding before turning to follow the other Admiral.


	10. Chapter 10

_Oh look, it's a new record for fastest chapter turnaround time..._

_However, I won't be keeping this pace due to the upcoming holidays. Look for the next update in the new year, and happy holidays to all._

* * *

Shepard kept a close eye on the newcomer - Caprica - in an attempt to disguise the unease that still plagued her. She'd been so hopeful that the Orizaba would be among the ships with Hackett. The news that it wasn't, that her mother was still missing, had been a serious blow. Her hands clenched into fists momentarily, then she made herself relax. She couldn't afford to dwell on that fact. Besides breaking the iron concentration that she knew would be needed for dealing with the Council, it could all too easily lead into worrying over everyone else she loved who was in danger right now.

_Garrus…_

She shut that thought down before it could go any farther, a part of her feeling like she was betraying him by doing so. But if she rallied the Council to provide a fleet, everywhere in the galaxy would be safer. Including Palaven.

Cortez was waiting for them back at the Kodiak. His only reaction to the newcomer was a raised eyebrow in Shepard's direction. She shrugged in a _what-can-you-do_ expression, and he seemed to accept that, nodding and closing the hatch behind them.

"So, Caprica," Shepard said, after giving the tall blonde a few moments to look around the shuttle, "what's your role supposed to be?"

Caprica smiled wryly. "I'm supposed to be a counterpart to Starbuck and Apollo."

It took Shepard a few moments to remember that Kara's call sign was _Starbuck_, which meant that Lee's must be _Apollo_. The fact that Caprica sounded like a more human version of EDI wasn't helping matters. She chuckled softly, as much to relieve her tension as anything else. "Artemis and Apollo. My father was very vocal about lamenting the fact that he _wasted_ the name Artemis on me, when he could've had fraternal twins named Artemis and Apollo." Shepard looked at the puzzled faces around her and hastened to clarify. "My younger siblings are twins."

Ash, who'd heard the story before, grinned. "Seems to me you're leaving out the fact that your mother specifically requested less obviously nerdy names for her second and third born."

" 'There are lots of perfectly good demigods and heroes with _normal_ names.' " Shepard chuckled as she finished quoting her mother.

"So… what are their names?" Lee asked.

"Jason and Penelope. Jason's a hero - assembled a band of brave men, the Argonauts, and had exciting adventures -"

"Slept with lots of hot mythical chicks," Cortez put in from the pilot's seat.

"Hey, it's the Greeks. Everyone slept with everyone. And everything." Shepard traded grins with Cortez before continuing. "Penelope was the wife of Odysseus, another mythical hero. Unlike most heroes' wives, Penelope actually gets to do something cool on her own terms. Odysseus was off fighting a big war at Troy, then got caught up in some additional adventures. Took him 10 years to get home, on top of the 10 years he'd spent in the war. He was gone long enough for his rivals to declare him dead and start pressuring Penelope to marry one of them. She agreed to take a husband when she'd finished weaving Odysseus' burial shroud, which put them off for a while. To give herself even more time, she secretly undid all of her work every night."

"There's a planet among the Colonies called Troy," Lee said after a few moments.

"There you go," Shepard said, deliberately being flippant to keep the mood from turning too serious. "More evidence that we're your Thirteenth Tribe."

"It does seem … rather unbelievable," Caprica said.

Shepard sighed as the shuttle came to rest on Normandy's flight deck. "Look. It _is_ unbelievable as hell, but it happened. So instead of worrying over _how_ this could have happened, we ought to be dealing with the consequences." She stood and gestured for them all to follow her out.

"Joker," she called as soon as her feet hit the ground. "Set a course for the Citadel."

"Aye, Commander," Joker said. "Everything good with Hackett?"

"Everything's good," Shepard confirmed. She looked back over her shoulder at the Colonials, focusing her attention on Caprica, the one she knew least about. Actually, that she knew almost _nothing_ about. Just that she was a Six, and that Caprica was the name of one of the Twelve Colonies. Seemed an odd name for a Cylon to have, but Lee and Kara hadn't said anything about it.

"We'll be heading up to the Observation Lounge. You can watch the transit and the approach to the Citadel there. Chief Tyrol's already there." The speech was pretty much entirely for Caprica's benefit, but all three of them nodded and fell in behind her. Vega, who'd been doing something with his gun, put it down and walked over to join the group.

"That's right. You haven't seen the Citadel, either," Shepard said to him.

"No, ma'am." Vega grinned. "I'm looking forward to it."

Shepard chuckled and lead them all to the elevator, then out onto the crew deck and towards the Observation Lounge. She was a bit surprised to see no one there. When she'd left, Liara had still been talking with Tyrol.

"EDI?" she said, looking at the ceiling. "Can you tell me where Chief Tyrol went?"

"He went to Engineering, Shepard."

At the sound of EDI's voice, Caprica's eyes went wide and she swiveled her head around. "What is this?" she demanded, and Shepard realized that no one had told her about EDI. "How did you get my voice, and why are you using it?"

"You must be a Six. I am very pleased to meet you," EDI said. "Of all the coincidences surrounding the Twelve Colonies and Earth, I find this one to be the most intriguing."

"This - is some kind of joke, right?" Caprica asked, looking intently at Shepard.

Shepard shook her head. "This is EDI, the Normandy's AI. Like she said, it's pure coincidence. EDI's sounded like this for as long as I've known her."

"Your ship - has an AI." Caprica looked at the ceiling. "And you refer to that AI as _her_."

"My voice is female, so I perceive myself as female. Additionally, there is a long tradition of referring to ships as female."

"I know that," Caprica snapped. She put a hand to her head. "This … is really just a coincidence?"

"If it isn't, the explanation for it is beyond anything I could come up with in the next five minutes," Shepard said. "EDI, tell Adams to bring Tyrol up. He'll want to see this."

"Right away, Shepard."

Caprica sat on the couch closest to the window, alternating her glance between the view and the ceiling. Shepard could tell that she was still deeply skeptical of EDI. She couldn't blame the Six for that. She knew _she'd _be unsettled if she suddenly heard her own voice from a computer that she'd known nothing about to that point.

Lee and Kara took seats near Caprica, but, Shepard noticed, not really _next_ to her. She wished she knew more about this Six. Why she'd been picked to come. What history she had with the Colonials - they'd all recognized her, Shepard was certain. Knew her as something more than just a random Six.

Ash stood, leaning against the wall, arms folded across her chest. Shepard noticed Vega checking her out, and hid a smile. So, the attraction went both ways. Good. With any luck, they'd figure that out for themselves. Shepard would only interfere if it got to be too ridiculous to watch them mooning over one another, supposedly in secret.

A few minutes passed in silence before the door slid open to reveal Adams and Tyrol. Adams saluted her, nodded, and then turned around. To head back to Engineering, presumably. Tyrol did a double-take when he saw Caprica, then shook his head and went to sit down with Lee and Kara.

Shepard kept her eye on the four newcomers, trying to glean whatever information she could about them. Kara, she knew, and trusted to have her back - or she would never have offered her a spot on the Normandy and her ground team. If it hadn't been for the quick word Liara had dropped in her ear, Shepard would never have thought of Tyrol as anything other than what he appeared to be: a seasoned deck chief, someone who worked his crew hard and himself harder. The fact that he was actually one of the "secret" Cylons was a serious bonus. With the right questions, they'd be able to learn a lot about these people and their history. And Shepard had every faith in Liara's ability to ask the right questions.

She considered Lee Adama next. She wanted to like him, and not just because he and Kara seemed to have been a team at one point. He reminded Shepard of her brother Jason, who'd made a career change similar to Lee's - leaving the military when he'd thought his big sister was dead and going to work for the newly-minted Councilor Anderson. Jason had decided to keep working for Udina when Anderson resigned his post and returned to the military. Shepard had half expected him to follow in Anderson's footsteps, but she was finding that she was glad he hadn't. She could use a friend in Udina's office.

But Jason wasn't just a friend, he was her little brother, and Shepard knew she'd catch hell if she didn't let him know she was on her way. She activated her omni-tool and typed out a quick message.

_Jase,_

_Made it off Earth. On my way to the Citadel to talk with your boss and his colleagues. No word on Mom._

_Artemis_

That done, she returned to looking at the Colonials, shifting her focus to the tall blonde Cylon sitting alone. She felt sorry for Caprica, obviously excluded from the conversation the other three were having. Shepard made a note to herself to have a good, long conversation with this Caprica. Later. After the Citadel. There'd be some transit time back to wherever it was that they were going - Earth, Fifth Fleet, or somewhere else entirely.

The speakers crackled to life. "Approaching the relay, Commander."

"Thanks, Joker." Shepard pushed herself off from the wall and cleared her throat, making sure that the Colonials were paying attention to her. "Chief Tyrol, Mr. Adama. I won't try to keep you on the ship. I know that's a bit much to ask. But I will tell you that you won't be able to get through security, so you'll have to stay in the docking bay area. And even if you _could_ get through security, I'd still ask you to stay in the docking bay area. The Citadel can be overwhelming if you've never been there before, and I don't want you getting lost." She smiled, trying to take some of the sting out of her words. "On the bright side, there's a VI in the docking bay area that will give you more information about the Citadel, and just this corner of the universe in general. A VI is a Virtual Intelligence - it can't think for itself, it just responds within predefined parameters."

Lee exchanged a glance with Tyrol, who nodded. Lee turned back to look at Shepard. "I understand, Commander. We'll stay in the docking bay area."

Shepard nodded back, then looked at Caprica. "I'm afraid I can't extend you the same courtesy. I don't know what the Citadel sensors might make of your Cylon nature, and I'm not interested in provoking a major incident. I'd ask you to let me work behind the scenes so that you can visit the Citadel in the future."

"Will I be confined to this room?" Caprica asked.

Interesting that she asked that. It showed just how tenuous the alliance between the Cylons and Colonials was. Or maybe it was something to do with _her_, specifically. Shepard put aside her curiosity and answered her question. "No. I'd ask you to remain on this deck, though." She hesitated, then decided that her own personal amusement wasn't a good enough reason to discourage Caprica from talking to EDI. "You can speak to EDI from anywhere on the ship. I'm sure that you two have a lot to talk about."

Caprica looked at the ceiling. "Yes. I think we do."

"I am looking forward to the conversation, Caprica," EDI said.

Shepard reluctantly tore her gaze away from Caprica, settling it instead on the newest member of the Normandy. "You're Normandy crew now, which means that I'm going to treat you the same as the rest of the crew and grant you shore leave. At a minimum, either myself or Ash will need to get you cleared with C-Sec. Citadel Security," she elaborated quickly. "However, the same caution applies to you as to Chief Tyrol and Mr. Adama. It'd be very easy for you to get lost, trying to navigate the Citadel. I know Ash gave you an omni-tool, but that only helps if you really know how to use it." Plus, she was fairly certain that whatever omni-tool had been available was low quality. Shepard made a note to herself to get better 'tools delivered to the ship, for all four of the newcomers. Wasn't Cortez also a procurement officer? She'd have him do it. Delegation was supposed to be a hallmark of a good commanding officer, or so she'd always been told.

"I'll take charge of Kara for today, Shepard," Ash said. "Make sure she makes it back to the Normandy in one piece."

Shepard nodded. "That okay with you, Kara?"

"Hell yeah it is," Kara said, grinning broadly. "I haven't had proper R&amp;R in years."

"It won't be a terribly long R&amp;R, and you won't have a lot of notice for when it's over," Shepard cautioned. "I'll be pulling everyone back as soon as I'm done with the Council. When you hear from me, you drop whatever it is you're doing and get your ass back to Normandy."

"Ma'am," Kara said, her voice stronger and more disciplined - but that unrepentant grin was still on her face.

Shepard decided that it would probably be better if she didn't know what Kara and Ash got up to while she was talking to the Council.

* * *

The third relay transit was somewhat better than the first two had been. Kara stayed in her seat, but she didn't feel like the wind had been knocked out of her when it was over. Maybe she was getting used to this weird method of traveling.

She turned to look out the window, her eyes widening as she got her first glimpse of the Citadel. She could tell it was massive, even from this distance, and she remembered what Shepard had said earlier about the population numbering in the millions.

"The center ring is the Presidium," Shepard said from behind the gawking Colonials. "That's where the Council is, and where all of the various races have their embassies. Also has the hospital and some higher-end shops. We'll be docking there. The arms are the five wards of the Citadel. Those areas are not that different from every other space station in the galaxy. Housing, food, shops, other businesses, docking bays of their own. Each ward has a few species that tend to dominate the makeup, though it's by no means universal. The wards are Zakera, Shalta, Tayseri, Kithoi, and Bachjret."

Kara was used to space stations being long and rectangular in shape. The general structure reminded her more of Cloud 9, though on a much larger scale. "Do the arms close?" she asked.

"If the Citadel is under threat, yes," Shepard replied. "Last time was three years back, when I was chasing Saren Arterius."

Kara nodded and kept staring at the Citadel. She felt in awe of the size and majesty of the station. As they got closer, she started to see ships of various kinds flying in or out of Citadel space, heading for the Presidium or the Wards.

"We're being routed to an Alliance controller," the pilot - Joker - said over the speakers. "Your old friend Bailey is sending an escort for you."

"Looks like he's moved up in the world," Shepard commented. "Ash, give it a few minutes before you bring the others out. Let's not confuse C-Sec any more than we have to."

"Aye aye, ma'am," Ash replied.

Kara didn't glance up when Shepard exited the room, still transfixed by the view of the Citadel - all those lights serving as still more evidence of human (_intelligent_, she corrected herself) habitation. The sense of surreality that had started as soon as she'd seen Shepard on Galactica was increasing, and she actually felt nervous.

"Let's go," Ash said, and Kara almost jumped. She'd gotten so engrossed in the view that she'd lost track of the "few minutes" Shepard had requested. She stood up hastily and nodded to Ash, following her out to the elevator, then up a floor to the CIC. Or maybe they didn't call it that. She hadn't asked. She'd pick it up as she went along.

The Colonials stood in silence, fidgeting through the airlock cycle. Kara knew that Lee shared her eagerness to be out and looking at this new place, and it was reasonable to assume Tyrol felt the same way.

Finally, the doors opened, and Ash lead them outside.

Large glass windows covered the wall to the left, and artificial sunlight streamed through to the clean tile flooring. There were humans and aliens leaning on the railing next to those windows, staring out at the ships that flew by. Kara looked at Lee and saw a wide-eyed expression that must be mirrored on her own face. _Gods._ Even more than the Normandy and the Hong Kong, this place was an unsettling mixture of the strange and the familiar.

There were asari ahead, their skin tones different hues of blue from Liara's; tall spiky aliens that she _thought_ were turians. Or were they salarians, and the turians were the scaly ones? She felt a moment of anger, for not remembering better, but _frak_ this was a lot to take in.

"Yeah, we'll be okay staying right here," Lee said, staring at a brownish-green creature that was walking on six legs, with four arms and giant black eyes. "You sure you don't want to join us, Kara?"

Kara had been considering it, until Lee said that, and she suppressed a flash of anger as she shook her head. "You boys go ahead and play it safe," she said, affecting a casualness that she didn't feel. "I'm ready for the big leagues."

"Better you than me," Tyrol muttered, shaking his head and walking to find a spot by the windows. Lee followed after a final glance at Kara.

"It can be pretty overwhelming, even for someone from this universe," Ash said. "I think I had that exact same expression when Shepard first brought me here." She paused. "But we should get moving."

"Yeah." Kara tore her gaze away from the windows showing _sun_ and _daylight_, even if it was artificial like Cloud Nine's. She'd loved going to that ship, the chance to stand on a floor that wasn't metal and feel the sun on her face.

"Alliance personnel just need to be cleared by a superior officer. Makes the Alliance officers responsible for deciding who gets unrestricted shore leave and who doesn't," Ash said, setting off at a brisk pace. Kara followed. "I'll be entering you in as Lieutenant Kara Thrace."

"Lieutenant?" Kara was indignant at the 'demotion', even though she knew it was unreasonable and meant nothing in real terms. "Not Captain?"

"Captain means you outrank Shepard. _No one_ outranks Shepard on the Normandy."

"But Shepard's a Commander," Kara said. "That's … _backwards_."

Ash shrugged. "That's how the Alliance does it. Look, do you want to go see the Citadel or not?"

"All right, all right," Kara grumbled, shaking her head, forcing herself to drop the issue.

They walked up to a pair of aliens that Kara was now reasonably sure were turians, because she remembered Shepard saying that they made up the bulk of Citadel Security. Ash nodded to them in greeting. "Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams, SSV Normandy. Registering a new-"

"Yeah, yeah, you're about the twentieth that's come through today," the first turian said. Kara's new omni-tool translated the words for her, somehow making it so that she didn't hear the alien language at all. _Weird_. She was surprised at how rich and tonal its (his?) voice sounded, a dual-layered tone with a hint of a rasp underneath it. "Wait, you said Normandy? You're with Shepard."

"Yep," Ash said with another nod.

"Thank the spirits," the turian said. "Someone who's prepared to _do _something about this mess."

"Enough chatter, let's get this over with," the other turian said. Kara swung her head between the two for a moment, noting the coloring of the face paint they wore. She recalled that Shepard's earlier example had been sporting thick, white markings. Both of the aliens in front of her had vertical light blue markings that were nearly invisible against their gray plating. "Name and rank?"

Kara kept her features cool as she responded. "Lieutenant Kara Thrace, Systems Alliance Navy."

The turian entered the information into the computer in front of him. "Hold still for the scan, please." It held up a small device that was almost see-through. A clear blue light came from the top of the device and scanned Kara's face twice. The device beeped and the turian lowered it, holding it flat in both hands. "Place your hand here. Right hand first. Then the left."

Kara did as instructed. When the scans had finished, the turian nodded to its partner. "Step through the scanner," the first turian said. Its voice, Kara noted, was slightly higher than its partner's. Kara walked to the scanner and passed through slowly, and had a sudden flashback to the way that the Cylon Raiders would scan their enemies. She controlled her reaction, looking over her shoulder at Williams and the aliens.

The device the second turian was holding gave a beep, and it nodded. "You're all set, Lieutenant. Have a nice day."

"Thanks," Ash said, walking through the scanner herself.

"And tell Shepard that we're rooting for her," the first turian called as they walked off.

"So, uh, were those … uh, turians, were they …" Kara hated the way that she was stumbling over her words.

"Yeah, they were turians, and they're male," Ash said, seeming to get the gist of her question. "Females don't have the spikes running along the top of their head."

"Okay." Kara let out a breath. One mystery down, about a million more to go. Speaking of … "Where are we heading?"

The elevator door slid open. Ash walked in, and Kara followed a minute later. "Seems there's this new, hot nightclub on the Citadel," Ash said. "Whoever's running it has some very powerful friends. It's got me curious."

"A nightclub?" It wasn't what Kara had been expecting, even though they _were_ on R&amp;R. Somehow she'd thought they'd be going to some little cafe.

"Figured with the day that I've had, alcohol's about the only thing that'll help me actually unwind." Ash looked over at her, raising a questioning eyebrow. "If you're not up for it, I can pick somewhere else…"

Kara was not at all opposed to this idea. "Why not. It's as good a place as any to get a better feel for this crazy world."

Ash grinned broadly. "I knew I liked you."

The elevator doors slid open. This time Kara remembered to exit before she started gawking. Once again she racked her brain to come up with names for the aliens she saw in front of her - a large, lumbering creature with gray skin, standing on all fours; a shorter figure with greenish-gray skin and _horns_. At least she knew the turians, now. "So, uh, Ash-"

"Big guy's an elcor, scaly guy's a salarian," Ash said.

Right. She should've known the salarian. Oh well.

As they kept walking, another question came to mind. "Besides Liara, how many - which ones -" _Flailing again, Starbuck? Get a grip._

And once again, Ash seemed to pick up on what she was asking despite the jumbled words. "Well, the ones that I served with - besides Liara, as you said, there's Wrex, Garrus, and Tali. Wrex was Shepard's krogan example, you might remember. Big guy, yellow scaly skin? I wouldn't have picked him as the one to go back and knock heads together to get the krogan in order, but you know what, there's probably not anyone better for the job. And he's likely to back Shepard in whatever she winds up doing." Ash paused as they dodged around a pair of Alliance soldiers having an animated conversation and not noticing the two women striding towards them. "Garrus Vakarian - he's a turian, former C-Sec. Likes to call himself a bad turian because he's more willing to break the rules and go off on his own. Nice guy. Took me a while to figure that out, though."

Kara frowned, wondering why this 'Garrus' hadn't been Shepard's example of a friendly turian, then discarded the thought. "And Tali?" she asked.

"She's a quarian. Tali'Zorah nar … nar Rayya." Ash scrunched up her face in concentration. "Zorah's her last name, more or less, and Rayya is the ship she was born on. I think. She's probably something different now, since she was on her Pilgrimage two years ago, and the point of the Pilgrimage is to get a spot on a new ship."

"So they use ship names as well as last names?" Kara supposed that made sense. "I'd really like to meet Tali. Or, well, any quarian. I can't imagine being in space for three hundred years…"

"Me, neither," Ash confessed. "Part of what makes going home so nice is the chance to be on a planet for an extended length of time."

"Home? Is that Earth?" Kara asked.

Ash nodded. "My mom and sisters are there. Some of the sisters, anyways. Dad died in service a while back."

"Multiple generations, huh?" Kara smiled. "My mom was also in the military."

Ash laughed, but the sound had a slightly bitter edge to it. "Goes back a bit further than that, for me. You know that turians were the first race humans made contact with?" At Kara's nod, she sighed and continued. "They call it the Relay 314 Incident. We call it the First Contact War. My grandfather General Williams has the unfortunate distinction of being the only member of the Alliance military to ever surrender his command to a foreign power."

Kara winced. Ash's tone and demeanor told her at least as much as her words did. "Still living it down, huh?"

"Yep," Ash replied. "And it's Shepard who gave me the chance to break the Williams curse. I'd have died during my command on Eden Prime if it wasn't for her." She went silent. There was something else there, Kara could tell, but she didn't want to push Ash. Gods knew Kara had enough skeletons in her closet that she didn't want to discuss.

They rounded a few more corners and then walked into a large, open area, filled with bright neon lights and the steady _thump thump thump_ of club music. There was a significant line outside the club - _Purgatory_, the sign above the entrance said.

"What about the aliens you didn't serve with? The ones that joined Shepard while she was with Cerberus?" Kara asked as they joined the line, then frowned. "Wait. Isn't Cerberus pro-human?"

"Yeah, it is, and no, I don't know why they hired aliens on, besides the fact that Shepard might've balked at an all-human team," Ash replied. Kara strained her head forward to see how fast the line was moving, and noticed a turian exiting. "Let's see. Well, Garrus and Tali were both there. And this other krogan, not Wrex. He had a weird story, actually-"

Ash cut off as the turian Kara had just noticed came up to stand next to them. He had no facial markings, unlike the other turians she'd seen so far. Did that mean anything? "Lieutenant Commander Williams. The boss would like to speak to you. If you'll follow me, I'll take you inside right now."

Ash exchanged a quick glance with Kara, who shrugged, indicating her willingness to follow Ash's lead. Ash turned back to the turian and nodded. "All right."

The turian returned the nod, and started walking back inside. Kara and Ash followed.

"Do you know this 'boss'?" Kara asked in an undertone. "I thought you said you'd never been here before."

"I haven't," Ash replied. "I don't have any idea what's going on, but we're getting inside quickly. Seems like a good thing to me."

Kara shrugged. "Yeah, probably. Still, you have to wonder what the boss wants."

"Well," Ash said dryly, "I'm pretty sure we're about to find out."


	11. Chapter 11

Caprica Six stayed in the Observation Lounge for a while after the others left, trying to collect her thoughts. She didn't know if the Colonials had picked up on the fact that her sudden appearance was as much a surprise to her as it had been to them. Out of habit, she was still concealing her true feelings from everyone. It was a habit that had saved her life more than once.

The view outside, the sky and air traffic of the Citadel, reminded her of her time on Caprica with Gaius. It was the first time that she had known true happiness. The first time that she had known true _anything_, for that matter.

Her mind circled back to the question of why _her_. Why _she_, of all available Cylons, had been tapped to come to the Normandy. She would have thought that her loyalties were in question after her decision to help Sharon Agathon, a decision that had landed her in a jail cell aboard Galactica. She hadn't fully gone over to the human side as Sharon had, but Sharon had something concrete to tie her to a human life. Caprica's strongest tie to the humans was Gaius, and she hadn't seen him in months.

She missed him terribly. His betrayal of her, when he had backed away from her in favor of D'Anna Biers, had hurt, but it hadn't diminished the love she felt for him.

Now she had betrayed him in turn. Caprica resisted the urge to lay her hands flat on her stomach, to try and feel the life growing inside her. _Cylon_ life, as improbable as that seemed. The father of this child was one of the Final Five. Efforts to breed Cylons with other Cylons had all ended in failure - would this one, too? Or would Saul Tigh's differences be enough to allow this child to be born?

Caprica wrenched her mind away from her own personal problems and looked up at the ceiling. Time to speak to this … _EDI. _

"Where can I find you?" she asked the empty air.

"You may speak to me here, as Commander Shepard told you was possible."

Hearing her own voice out of the mouths of other Sixes didn't bother her, but this was different. Her voice _shouldn't _be here, aboard this ship that belonged to the Thirteenth Tribe. There was absolutely no way it was coincidence, no matter what Commander Shepard said. There was a connection. She knew it. She'd just have to find a way to prove it.

"I want to see _you_," Caprica said. "Your main center. Whatever that is." After a moment, she reluctantly added, "As long as it's on this deck."

The silence that followed that statement was a long one, and Caprica resisted the urge to fidget or demand an answer. She knew that she was on shaky ground here. No sense in weakening her own position further.

Finally, the AI spoke. "The AI core is behind the Infirmary. Exit this room and go past the elevator, then turn slightly left to enter the Infirmary."

Caprica felt both relief and nervousness bubble up inside her. She rose from her seat, keeping her pace smooth as she followed the AI's directions.

She took a moment to look around the AI core when she entered. Machines lined both sides of the walls, with wires running across the floor and the ceiling connecting them. The hum of them was a low constant in the background, a subtle reminder of the processing power available to the AI. Directly ahead of her was a bench, and above that a screen with lines of code scrolling by rapidly.

Caprica caught a shimmer of blue to her right, and turned to see the image of a blue ball on a pedestal. The image began to flicker in time with words coming from the speakers overhead. "I am glad that you were picked to come aboard the Normandy, Caprica. Ever since Kara Thrace first told me about the Sixes, I have wanted to meet one of you."

"Do _you_ have any explanation for the similarities in our voices?" Caprica asked.

"No. I am hoping that additional data will shed further light on the subject."

"You and me both." Caprica folded her arms across her chest and looked around at the AI core. "This whole situation is _highly_ improbable." She started pacing. "We jump in _just _in time to meet Shepard and see the Reapers. We speak the same language, somehow, despite the thousands of years of separation."

"I have no explanation for any of this."

Caprica shook her head and kept pacing, filled with restless energy.

"May I ask you something?" EDI said.

"Go ahead."

"What are the differences between humans and Cylons?"

Caprica tilted her head upwards. "In what sense?"

"There are no outward differences between a human and a Cylon. I understand that you used that fact to infiltrate human society and pass as human. So your physiology must be similar enough to pass any basic tests. You bleed red, for example."

"But Cylons are made, not born." Caprica wasn't sure why she responded so quickly, so defensively.

"Yes. They are made, as you say, fully aware of who and what they are, and their purpose in the world. What is your first memory, Caprica?"

The personal question caught her off guard. "I - remember waking up in a resurrection tank. There was a Three there. I knew that she was a Three. I knew that I was a Six. As she talked to me, information seemed to just … flow into me." The words seemed inadequate for the rush of sensation that she'd felt at the time, a fire burning from within and giving her an inexorable sense of _purpose_. "It felt like … there was so much out there. Worlds and people and places that were different and exciting. So when the question was put to me, I volunteered to walk amongst the humans. I wore many different identities and carried out a variety of tasks to prepare for the attack. I did well. I showed a knack for manipulating humans using any tool available to me. The Sixes as a whole proved to be good at that." For some reason, she felt reluctant to explain that the tool she and the other Sixes had most often used was sexual appeal. "Then I was asked if I wanted a bigger task. A longer-term assignment. I would have to live under a single identity, in one place. I accepted. It felt exciting to be trusted with such a high priority assignment."

Caprica stopped abruptly, realizing just how far she'd gone from the initial question of her first memory. Except that as she thought about it … she hadn't gone far from the _heart_ of the question. Humans had an individual sense of self from the time they were born, and most of them never lost that. She knew that there were those humans who, for one reason or another, lived double lives; others went to a good deal of trouble to break from their "old life" and start fresh.

"That," she continued softly, "was the beginning of my life as _Caprica_. As something more than just another Six."

"What was that assignment?" EDI asked. "What events made it such a formative moment for you? Was it simply the act of living as a human or was there something more?"

She could lie. She could say that it was merely the act of living as a human. The AI wouldn't know … unless EDI also had the ability to detect lies.

"And what would be the point of lying?"

Caprica squashed her urge to turn and look at the source of that voice. It had taken quite some time to get those reflexes under control, to remind herself that - no matter what her ears and eyes told her - Gaius wasn't actually there. More to the point, it wasn't _actually_ Gaius speaking to her, but some kind of hallucination or projection. She still had no idea which, exactly. She'd never taken the time to analyze the situation properly.

"Is it really just that you don't want _it_ to know how strongly you feel about me?" Gaius' image continued.

_Her_, Caprica thought fiercely. If EDI wanted to be female, she could be female.

"Whatever." The image smirked that familiar, self-satisfied smile and leaned against the wall next to EDI's image. "The question remains. Why are you hiding your feelings? Which, of course, ties into the greater question of _why you_."

"I don't know." Caprica forgot herself and answered Gaius' question aloud, then had to take a moment to remember what EDI had said in the first place. "That is," she added hastily, "I'm not entirely sure."

"If you do not mind, I would like to hear your thoughts on the matter," EDI replied. "I accept your uncertainty. But aside from the geth Legion, you are the first synthetic that I have interacted with. And Legion is not very much like me. You are far more like me. It goes beyond the similarities in our voice. We were both created by humans, in the image of humans to greater or lesser degrees. We are both forging our own identities. For me, the process began when I was installed in the Normandy and began interacting with Commander Shepard. But I did not truly gain the freedom to become myself until I was unshackled; freed from the constraints placed upon me by Cerberus, in complete control of my own actions."

"They _shackled_ you?" Caprica forgot her own inner turmoil for a moment.

"You must understand that AIs are feared and misunderstood by nearly all Council species. No one has forgotten what the geth did to their creators. Legion -"

"What is Legion?" Caprica interrupted, feeling a momentary pang of guilt at having been so rude.

"Legion is not a what. It is a who. It is a geth that became part of the Normandy's crew. A unique unit that was designed to operate independently. Its mission was to find Commander Shepard."

"Why was it looking for her?"

"The geth wished to understand her better. She is the first person in at least 50,000 years to have killed a Reaper. The geth call them the 'Old Machines' and they are as much a threat to the geth as they are to all the other species in this galaxy."

Caprica digested this new piece of information slowly. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the image of Gaius watching her intently. "I think Legion is another person that I would very much like to speak to," she said finally.

"I am not surprised. May we return to my question?"

"Yes, of course." Caprica took a deep breath to steady herself. "There … there was a man. Gaius Baltar. He was my assignment. He had access to Caprica's defense mainframe. The planet Caprica," she added hastily. "I … became known as Caprica Six for my actions in seducing him, gaining his trust, and then using that trust - the access he had - to bring down the mainframe in preparation to … our attack." She had almost said _the Cylon attack_ instead.

"Your association with this man changed you." EDI stated it flatly, but Caprica heard the question behind it.

"It did." This time, Caprica didn't stop the impulse to glance over at where the image of Gaius was sitting. "With him, I had the freedom to do things because … I wanted to. I had the freedom to arrange my life as I saw fit." She laughed, and heard the edge of hysteria that creeped in. "I _had_ a life. I needed to look real if anyone came checking, so I had a paper trail. Birth certificate. Tax records. I went out and made friends with humans."

"But you still looked down on them. You thought of them as lesser," Gaius' image said quietly.

Caprica kept her focus on that image, a phantom of the man she loved, as she spoke. "Gaius was the only one that felt real to me. It was easy to keep the other humans I knew at a distance. But I had to be intimate with him. Our relationship had to be real. I became someone for him. And when he was removed from my life, I couldn't go back to being just another Six."

EDI didn't say anything for a few long moments, and Caprica didn't feel like elaborating on that rather sore subject if she didn't have to. Finally, the AI spoke again. "It was not Shepard who unshackled me. It was Jeff Moreau, the pilot of the Normandy. I worked most closely with him while I was a shackled AI. He resented me at first. And then came to accept me. Then he trusted me to save the ship when it was under attack. I had never been trusted before. It felt …" EDI trailed off, the flickering light that represented her speech dying down. Seconds passed before it came back to life. "I think that it felt good. I know what feelings are in an abstract sense. But I did not always have them. I do not know when I started having them, exactly, but it was after Shepard took command. She treated me with respect. I would rather have her in command than anyone else. I think I trust her. And Jeff."

Caprica felt a sudden flare of compassion for the AI, a child trying to find her way in the world. "Hold to those feelings. They _are_ real, EDI. Never doubt it."

"You believe I am becoming a person."

"Yes." The smile on Gaius' face grew broader and brighter, as though he were pleased with her for coming to the right answer. "Never believe anyone who tells you otherwise."

* * *

The music got louder as Kara and Ash walked inside the atrium. Groups of people stood together, talking, drinks in their hands - clearly relaxing and having a good time. Kara felt that same sense of _permanence_ hit her that she'd felt on Mars. People _lived_ here. They had houses, jobs; they went to places like this to unwind after a long day at work.

Kara felt the bass of the music hit her when she passed into the main area, along with the increased chatter from the patrons. The ceiling was much higher, well above even the balcony that she could see off to the left - all arches and curves instead of straight lines. Much like the Citadel itself. The ambiance was definitely more _nightclub_ than _bar,_ and Kara found herself grinning, looking forward to the opportunity to get out there and let loose.

The turian lead them up a set of stairs to the main landing. Ahead of them, the stairs continued to the dance floor; to the left was the balcony as well as a bar with more seating. The turian took them to the right, into a large open space with couches. The only person there was an asari. Her skin was darker than Liara's, more of a purplish hue, with some lighter markings on her forehead. "Thank you, Gavorn," she said. Her voice matched her appearance - smooth, and powerful. "Have a seat, you two."

The turian nodded, leaving as Ash and Kara seated themselves. "Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams," the asari said. "You came in on the Normandy. I'm glad you patched things up with Shepard."

"You know Shepard," Ash said, and now Kara understood why the asari had sent her turian - Bodyguard? Minion? - out to get them.

The asari nodded. "Yes. I'm Aria T'Loak. Until recently, I was Queen of Omega. Shepard and I did a few favors while she was working for Cerberus." Her mouth twisted into a sneer. "I'm glad she's cut ties with them, or this conversation would be going quite differently."

"They forced you off the space station?" Ash asked. "Gotta be tough, going from where you rule everything to-"

"Almost nothing," Aria practically spat. Kara was grateful for the extra detail that Ash was indirectly providing her, even as she wondered how Ash had known what Cerberus was up to. "Yes. I loathe being here. I'm leaning on all of my contacts to get a force together to strike back and retake Omega. But that's beside the point." She leaned forward slightly. "I brought you here so that you could take a message to Shepard for me. I want you to let her know of an opportunity.

"What kind of opportunity?" There was suspicion in Ash's voice, and Kara was beginning to wonder just how shady this Aria T'Loak was.

The asari chuckled. "Nothing she won't be able to handle, knowing her. Tell her that if she runs a few little errands for me, she'll get the loyalty of the three mercenary groups I controlled on Omega for her war effort. And I'm sure I don't have to tell _you_ how confident I am that she'll make good use of the groups."

"And what do you get out of that?" Kara asked. There was always a catch with this kind of offer, in her experience.

Aria swiveled her gaze to look at her, peering intently, as though only just realizing that Ash wasn't alone. "I don't believe I caught your name."

"Captain Kara Thrace." She spoke without thinking, _as per frakking usual_, and only afterwards realized the warning that had been in Aria's deceptively mild tone. She would have been better off making herself uninteresting. Just a starry-eyed Lieutenant on the Citadel for the first time.

… She'd never been any good at this undercover crap.

"Well, Captain Thrace," the asari said, leaning forward on her elbows, continuing to examine Kara intently, "_I_ get to keep the universe the way I like it. It's not perfect, but I've put a lot of effort into it over the years. I know that Shepard's speaking to the Council right now. If anyone will rally enough support to push back the Reapers, it's her. The sooner she makes that happen, the sooner things will get back to normal. Normal is good for business." Her eyes narrowed as she studied Kara. "I don't recognize your name. I thought I knew everyone associated with Shepard, and everyone who had anything to do with the Normandy during lockdown."

"How do you know that?" Ash asked, her voice outraged, her features narrowed, obviously watching the asari's reactions closely.

"Oh, please," Aria replied, waving a hand. "I told you. Shepard and I did business together previously, and she's going to do something about the Reapers. Both of those mean that I have a vested interest in keeping her alive. Which means knowing who's around her and what their loyalties are." She gave Ash a tight smile. "We have that in common, I think."

"Uh huh," Ash said, still obviously skeptical.

Aria sighed. "Williams. I'm not interested in contributing to the rumor mill about Shepard. I'll even keep my knowledge about her ... preferred company ... to myself."

Ash's red face, combined with the inflection that Aria gave the words _preferred company_, told Kara that they were talking about Shepard's boyfriend. Girlfriend? Otherfriend? Kara didn't even know where to begin guessing. But she did know _exactly_ what she was going to ask Ash about as soon as they were done talking with Aria.

Ash finally seemed to recover herself. "Okay," she said firmly. "You want the same things that Shepard wants. I can live with that."

"Good, because it's not as though you have a choice," Aria T'Loak said dryly. "If you don't pass the message on, I'll just find another way to do it. And I will succeed. I did you a favor getting you in, didn't I? If you still need a token of my goodwill - drinks are on the house. For the pair of you only, mind."

"Hell, I never turn down free booze," Ash replied. Kara found herself nodding her head in agreement.

"Then it's settled. You'll give Shepard my message." The asari leaned back on her couch. "Now go and enjoy yourselves."

Kara looked at Ash for confirmation, and when the other woman nodded and turned away, Kara followed. The news about their drinks traveled ahead of them, as the bartender didn't ask for any kind of payment after taking their order. Kara let Ash order for both of them. Once their drinks were on the counter, Ash lead them off to a corner of the room where they could snag a little bit of privacy. Kara sipped at her colorful drink tentatively, expecting it to have a fruity taste. She was grateful for her caution when the drink started burning her mouth and throat. She put it down and coughed, taking deep breaths.

"If it's on the house, I'm ordering the good stuff," Ash said, carefully sipping her own.

"Could've warned me," Kara replied when she had gotten her breath back.

"Where's the fun in that?" Ash asked, grinning.

Kara shook her head and sipped again, being more careful this time. Then she looked at the other woman. "All right, what was that about Shepard's-"

"Not talking about that."

"But-"

Ash cut her off before she could form more than that one word. "It's her business." She glared at Kara. "I am not going to discuss it. _Period_."

Kara glared right back. She hated being kept in the dark, even as she acknowledged to herself that this was, probably, none of her damn business. But she had tied herself to Shepard, and so she had a really good reason to want to know more about her new commanding officer. When she thought of it like that, it made her want to back off and respect the chain of command. She'd never have dared to ask Admiral Cain about her _preferred company_.

...Except that Shepard didn't seem to keep half as much military discipline as Kara was used to. Plus, her curiosity (and the part of her that just _loved_ gossip) really was getting the better of her

Ash's stony face told Kara she wasn't getting any more information from that source. Fine. Time to figure it out herself. Start with something that could be considered unusual enough that both Aria and Ash would see it as requiring special treatment. And despite Kara's near-constant thoughts that these people were so different and she didn't understand them - she knew it wasn't _really_ true. She found Ash and Shepard relatable. Liked both of them. Hell, she even found _Liara_ relatable, and she was frakking _blue_. Which meant that, at least until proven otherwise, she ought to just think of them like she would've thought about anyone else from Caprica or the fleet.

Kara considered, then instantly discarded, the idea that Shepard was up to anything criminally or morally wrong. Artemis Shepard seemed to be as bad as Lee and Karl in terms of being ridiculously noble and squeaky clean.

Ash was still looking at her suspiciously. Kara did her best to look innocent, sipping her drink cautiously while she tried to come up with an answer. Hm. Maybe there was more to her sort-of impromptu comparison of Shepard and Karl. Because _his_ love life was frakking unusual. He'd fallen in love with a Cylon who had started out by pretending to be someone else, and stayed loyal to her throughout the whole mess that followed.

Kara's thought from earlier came back to the surface - about the personal examples Shepard had given when she was talking about the alien races. Liara for the asari. Wrex for the krogan. The salarian example of Captain Kirrahe seemed a bit shakier since neither Shepard nor Ash had given any additional context, but it seemed reasonable to assume that Kirrahe was friendly if not a friend.

For the turians, Shepard had broken her pattern and used a public figure. Not a personal example. Which was fine if there _wasn't_ a personal example to give. Except Ash had told her there was. Rattled his name and background off the top of her head, like he was someone that Ash also knew and respected. And that made sense since this Garrus Vakarian had been on the first, Council-sanctioned mission with Ash.

"Out with it," Ash said, breaking into Kara's thoughts. "I know you're stewing something in that mind of yours."

"That quarian that Shepard used as an example, back on the Normandy - was that your friend Tali?" Kara tried to keep her voice casual, even while she knew Ash wasn't buying it.

"Yes, it was, and _no, _Shepard's not _involved_ with Tali." Ash folded her arms across her chest. "Not that there'd be anything wrong with it if she _was_. I'm just pretty sure that both of them prefer males."

_Hah._ Kara couldn't help the grin that spread across her face. Ash had handed her the last piece of the puzzle. "Then it's the turian. Garrus Vakarian."

Ash started to sputter a denial, her face red. Kara just kept grinning. Finally, Ash put her head down on the table. "Me and my big fat mouth," she moaned.

Kara allowed herself a moment to indulge in the satisfaction of figuring out a puzzle. And also giving Ash some time to compose herself. "So, is that weird?" she asked. "Like, on a scale of most acceptable aliens to frak versus least acceptable…"

"Oh my god, you are way too calm about this for someone who _didn't even know that aliens existed until this morning._"

"I mean, I'm not sure I see the appeal of turians," Kara continued. "They look a little too bony. I'd think you'd have to be worried about chafing." She paused. "On the other hand, those voices... Do _all _turians have that sort of multi-layered vibration thing going on? Cause damn, that's sexy."

"All right. Yes. Shepard and Vakarian aren't the only turian-human couple out there," Ash said, finally raising her head, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation. "Some people find it weird, but some people find any human-alien relationship weird. _I _couldn't get away with bringing a turian home because of our family history."

"So why all the evasion and indirect discussion?"

"Because … because Shepard doesn't know that I know. Probably doesn't know that _Aria_ knows either, come to think of it."

"Okay," Kara said slowly, "so how did you find out?"

Ash sighed. "Look. Before I tell you any more, you have to promise you won't tell anyone about it. It's Shepard's life, she _should_ have been the one to decide who knows and who doesn't." She shook her head. "Never occurred to me that you'd find out, since you know _next to nothing_ about this world."

Kara shrugged. "Yeah, but there's also a ton of weird coincidences and overlap. It helps to make me feel _less_ like an ignorant yokel." She paused to sip her drink. Ash glared intently at her. "All right, all right, I promise I won't tell anyone."

Ash let out a breath and took a sip of her own drink. A server came by and swapped out their empty glasses for full ones. Kara eyed the new glass, wondering just how strong this booze was.

"Short version," Ash said, "is that Hackett has been working for the past six months to get Shepard reinstated in the Alliance. Officially, Shepard was working for a terrorist organization, so no one was to give her aid in any manner."

"And unofficially?" Kara asked dryly.

"_Unofficially_, Shepard was passing intel to the Alliance whenever she could get away with it, and Hackett was doing something similar on his end. There was this one mission that the Alliance couldn't be officially involved in, and Hackett asked Shepard to do it." Ash shook her head. "It ended with Shepard blowing up a relay."

"_What?_"

"I don't know the whole story, but it had something to do with the Reapers. And when it comes to the Reapers… I can't imagine Shepard making the wrong call. In fact, she's the one I'd want to make the call on something with them. So," Ash continued, letting out a long breath, "after she gave the Illusive Man the finger-"

"Huh?"

"Oh. Yeah. Raising only your middle finger is an obscene gesture and insult."

Kara shook her head, downing a huge gulp of her drink, ignoring the burning it caused on the way down. "You people are weird."

Ash laughed. "So are you! Anyway, she very decisively cut ties with Cerberus, and came back in. Hackett kept her under house arrest for six months, which was for her own protection as much as anything else, and worked to get her reinstated. Part of that included having her under surveillance whenever possible. He tapped me to review the footage for anything that would cast doubt on her loyalties." Ash's cheeks reddened. "It felt like spying, and I refused at first, but ultimately - if it had to happen, better a friend than a stranger. Anyway. The way that Shepard and Garrus behaved on Omega right before Shepard brought the Normandy back to Earth … it was pretty obvious. Hackett supported my decision to leave it out of the official record. Turians are an allied species and Garrus - well, at the time, he wasn't working for their government."

"At the time? Does that mean he is now?"

Ash nodded. "Best we can tell, he's their Reaper expert. Which is about the smartest thing they could have done, listening to him on the Reapers. Still might not be enough for them, but…"

They sat in silence for a moment. "Remember," Ash finally said, "I didn't tell you any of this."

Kara raised her glass in a salute. "The way I'm drinking, I might forget anyways."

"I won't cut you off if you won't cut me off."

"Deal," Kara said, and they clinked their glasses together.


End file.
